If I Could Save Time In A Bottle
by kelly-clarkson-is-awesome
Summary: After enjoying the All-Star event in Atlanta, Georgia walkers invade the arena. Cindy is left to protect her baby sister, Mina, along with her good friend, Kobe Bryant. The story follows the survival of the two friends and little baby, and how they meet up with Rick's group to survive the apocalypse of the walking dead.
1. Chapter 1

"Mina, darling, wake up," Cindy sang softly. The 3-year-old baby girl stirred awake like a kitten, yawning with a purr. She fluttered her eyes open and rubbed them. Mina looked up at her 21-year-old sister, lifting her arms in the air. Cindy held Mina in her arms and gave her a kiss good morning. "Now, you need to wash up before we head out to breakfast with Kobe."

The baby girl squealed with joy. Mina was dearly loved and adored by all, especially Kobe Bryant who saw such beauty and pureness in the baby girl. "Where's Jenny?" Mina asked, noticing that the eldest sister, 25-years-old, wasn't in the hotel room.

"Jenny already left. She's waiting for us. Now, sweetheart, go ahead and wash up. I'll get your clothes ready." Mina did as told, and Cindy laid out the baby girl's clothes for the day. It was a cute blue sleeved-dress with a pair of warm white leggings and baby pink sweater for the cold weather in February. Cindy helped Mina dress and the two left the hotel room side-by-side.

They headed downstairs and entered the restaurant that was serving breakfast/lunch. "There they are," Cindy smiled spotting her sister sitting with Kobe. She felt a bit guilty to interrupt their moment because she always knew that her sister and Kobe clicked just as well as Cindy did with him. Jenny noticed her two sisters first and waved. After greetings and hugs with kisses, Cindy and Mina sat down to order breakfast.

"I didn't know it would be this sunny today," Cindy said feeling the warm sun on her skin. "It doesn't even feel like we're in Atlanta."

"Yeah, doesn't this place remind you of home?" Jenny added. Home, Manhattan Beach in the sunny southern California. The sisters travelled to Atlanta, Georgia for the annual All-Star game. After having a nice brunch, Kobe headed off to the arena first to prepare for the anticipated East vs West game. "So, how are you two?" Cindy asked biting into her sandwich.

Jenny looked at her devious little sister with a grin, and Cindy smiled with her eyes. The two sisters knew exactly what the other was thinking. "Mina, how's your pancake?" Jenny asked.

"Yummy!" Mina said with her mouth full of pancake. After finishing their meal, the three sisters headed towards the arena to watch the East vs West game. They sat courtside seats, especially reserved by the one and only family friend, the Black Mamba. Mina sat inbetween the two sisters, watching with amazement as the basketball stars were warming up.

"Hey, little baby!" many of the basketball stars greeted Mina. Kobe wasn't the only basketball star mesmerized by the dynamic Bourne family. The Bourne family was well known throughout the basketball community, especially since Mr. Bourne owned Staples Center and enjoyed hosting little events at his magnificent beach home for basketball stars.

The whistle blew, indicating that the game was about to begin. It was Dwight Howard for West Coast and Roy Hibbert for East Coast getting ready to tap the ball first. Howard got it and the ball went to Kobe. The players ran down the court as Kobe stayed back to analyze the situation. There was Paul George to guard him, and he swiftly went to his left making an easy layup.

It was nearing halftime and the score was 54 West 52 East. The whistle then blew, indicating the end of the second quarter. Cindy stood up to stretch and to get herself more beer. She glanced over to see Mina playing happily with CP3's son, and Jenny had stepped out to buy more beer. As the 3 sisters stood up, they saw the stadium doors around each 4 corners fling open. There was a mass influx of people walking through the doors, but there was a weird feeling in Cindy's gut. The way these people were walking, it seemed more of a limp.

Even the basketball stars on court were looking in either 4 directions at the influx of people walking through. Cindy felt frozen when she saw the people falling down the stairs. It wasn't just one who fell down. It was all of them. It was as if these people didn't know how to walk down the stairs because they just walked right off. Spectators near the bleachers huddled from fright at the sight of the falling people and the basketball stars on court centered together away from the falling people.

Even with the noises of collision within the arena and loud voices of concern over what was going on, the piercing sound of a woman's shriek filled the arena, making the hair on Cindy's arm stand up on edge. She looked up at the bleachers across the stadium, and she saw one of the people walking in bite into the arm of the woman shrieking.

Cindy's mouth dropped in horror. Even when she was so far away, she could see the elastic flesh stringing in the flesh-eating person's mouth as it pulled away. Blood spurted out like a sprinkler and the flesh-eater took another bite in the woman's jaw. Cindy couldn't hear the woman screaming anymore. She couldn't hear anything anymore except for the sound of blood rushing through her ears. She couldn't think, she couldn't move. All Cindy could do was watch the flesh-eaters, who were now at the floor of the arena, walk towards any moving human they saw, which was everyone.

The second victim she saw was Stephen Curry, and the same had happened. The flesh-eater bit into his neck, ripping off a huge chunk of flesh. But now, there were 4 flesh-eaters biting into Curry's body. Cindy saw him fall to the floor and disappear behind the flesh-eaters surrounding him like a bunch of wolves feasting on their dinner.

Out of instinct and reflex, Cindy shouted Mina's name as loudly as she could. She looked at where Mina used to be when she was playing with CP3's son just a few seconds ago, but she was gone. Cindy saw the vision in her eyes moving around as if she were walking, but she didn't feel anything. She kept calling out Mina's name, and she could see the flesh-eaters multiplying in numbers and feeding off more of the people she knew.

_There_, Cindy saw Mina standing there all alone with her hands in her eyes as she was bawling. In a flash of a second, Cindy swept Mina off her feet and held her baby sister with her dear life. _Jenny. _Cindy shouted as loudly as she could for her oldest sister, but the sounds of her screams were droned out by the shrieks of the dying others being eaten flesh by flesh.

Cindy tripped on a body. When she felt herself falling down, her instinct was to protect Mina as best she could so she tried her best to soften the fall by putting herself first. Cindy was on the floor with Mina in her arms still, protected and unharmed but still shaken up and bawling. Cindy glanced to who she tripped over and saw The King lying on the floor, barely recognizable as half his face was torn apart.

Cindy felt the tightest grasp around her arm, flinging her back onto her feet. She looked and saw Jenny and Kobe, who was holding onto her arm while holding Jenny's hand with his other hand. He led the sisters towards the locker room, dodging as best he could the flesh-eaters who were now targetting them as their next meal.

Kobe kicked a flesh-eater out of the way, and they were now running down the hallway trying to look for safety. Kobe shoved the two doors to the locker room open, and they could see flesh-eaters feasting on their friends while other friends were trying to fend off the flesh-eaters. Kobe grabbed Jenny's hand and Cindy's arm again, leading the sisters into a tight closet storage room. It was a lucky chance that it was unoccupied, and Kobe had no choice but to lock it. The 4 could barely fit in the closet, but it would have to do in order to hide from the flesh-eaters.

Mina was bawling in Cindy's shoulder, and it wasn't until Cindy leaned her back onto the wall when it had hit her. She didn't have time to process anything that had happened, but she could only think of one thing: Mina. Cindy held Mina tightly in her arms, whispering gentle words to her baby sister. But Mina wasn't being fooled. She could hear the confusion, horror, and panic in her sister's voice. It was not comforting her one bit.

Tears started flowing down Cindy's eyes as she slowly slid to the floor, feeling hopeless. The more Mina cried, the more she couldn't encourage the baby girl. This had never happened to her before. Cindy was always able to get Mina to stop crying in under a minute, and this was the first it didn't. But then again, never had Cindy seen flesh-eating people. Cindy was so lost in her own thought that she didn't realize she stopped comforting Mina.

Jenny touched Cindy's shoulder, bringing her younger sister back to reality. Cindy jumped and looked up at her sister. She could see Jenny crying too, and Jenny sat down next to Cindy. She wrapped her arms around Cindy, the way Cindy was wrapping her arms around Mina. It felt like forever that Cindy felt warmth surging through her body, the warmth and comfort of her older sister. Even now at such a moment, Cindy could feel Jenny's protection around her. She knew Jenny was just as afraid as she was, but there was still that comforting fact that Jenny would protect her and Mina till the end of her days.

Cindy knew this was the kind of comfort Mina needed, and she felt her body relieving itself of the tension. Cindy whispered comforting words once again to Mina, this time with more confidence. Mina felt this confidence and the same kind of protection Cindy felt from Jenny, and Mina started to calm down. Jenny glanced and saw Kobe sitting in front of the locked door, making sure that it wasn't going to open for anyone. Jenny knew that Cindy could stand on her own two feet again, and she scooted over to Kobe.

Jenny put her hand on Kobe's, and he looked at her. He immediately went in to hold Jenny, and she wrapped her arms around Kobe tightly. Jenny burried her face into Kobe's neck, wanting to drone out the noises of the flesh-eaters feasting just a door away. "I won't let them hurt you," Kobe whispered to Jenny as he held her even tighter. "You'll be safe with me."


	2. Chapter 2

No one kept track of time as they were confined within the walls of the closet room. Mina was still asleep in Cindy's arms, and Jenny and Kobe were still holding one another. The 3 adults were wide awake. "We can't just sit here," Jenny spoke up. "Who knows how many hours its been. We need to go out and see what's going on."

"Are you crazy? We can't leave this closet," Cindy hissed. "Those things'll kill us. We don't have anything to fight them with."

"So you'd die in here?"

"I'd rather die in here than to die by those things out there."

"Shut up, Cindy. We are NOT staying in here," Jenny sternly stated.

"Cindy's right," Kobe spoke. "We can't just go out there like this. We need something, something to fight them off with."

"That," Cindy pointed. She pointed at the broomstick and she handed Mina carefully over to Jenny. Cindy then wobbled onto her feet and held the broomstick. She then slammed the broomstick down on her knee and broke the broomstick. She put the broomed part aside and examined the other half of the stick, looking at the jagged points of the wood. Kobe got the other broomstick and did the same. "Alright...so...when do we leave?" Cindy asked looking at her sister.

"We'll go when Mina wakes up." Cindy and Kobe agreed, and they sat back down.

"Do you think anyone survived?" Cindy quietly asked. It was the first time any of them brought up what happened since they ran into the closet. No one said anything. "Stephen and Lebron...they didn't make it. I saw."

"Let's not talk about that," Kobe said. Cindy could see it pained Kobe to hear about the death of his fellow basketball athletes.

"Where will we go when we get out of here?" Cindy asked changing the subject.

"We should leave the stadium," Jenny answered. "We need to go look for help."

"Where would we go when we get outta here? We don't know the city," Kobe refuted.

"We should go up to the rooftop," Cindy suggested. "We would be able to see the outlay of the city. Then we could decide where to go after."

"Good idea," Jenny and Kobe nodded in agreement.

"So we'll head up to the rooftop and look around. So...how do we get to the rooftop?" Jenny asked.

"I've been here before. I know the way," Kobe answered. Their plan was set. And the pieces of the dominoes were set into motion when Mina stirred awake.

"Are we still in the scary dream?" Mina asked Jenny.

"No," Jenny answered holding onto her baby sister tightly. "We're going to escape, baby. And we're going to go back home to California, alright?"

"Is mommy and daddy okay? And Philip, and Johnny, and Jay, and Hansel, and Sean?"

"Yes, baby. They're all waiting for us back home. Now, you need to listen to me real good, Mina, alright?" Mina nodded looking up at Jenny. "We're going to go up to the rooftop, alright? Kobe is going to lead the way, and Cindy is going to carry you. Now, don't you ever, EVER let go of Cindy. You will ALWAYS stay by her side and never walk away from her. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Mina answered nodding her head.

"Good. My beautiful baby girl, you're so brave, aren't you?" Jenny smiled, brushing Mina's bangs aside. Mina smiled and it warmed everyone's hearts. Jenny kissed Mina and then handed her over to Cindy. Kobe and Jenny held the jagged broomsticks, the jagged end pointing out. Kobe was closest to the door, and Jenny stood behind Cindy holding Mina. "How about...a little song before we head out?" Jenny looked at Cindy, the singer of the family.

"A song? Now?" Cindy asked. Jenny nodded, and it seemed like everyone could use a bit of heart-warming. "What song would you like, baby?" Cindy asked Mina.

"The bottle song," Mina answered. Cindy smiled.

_If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do is to save everyday till eternity passes away just to spend them with you._

If I could make days last forever, if words could make wishes come true, I'd save everyday like a treasure and then, again, I would spend them with you.

But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you wanna do once you find them. I've looked around enough to know that you're the one I wanna go through time with.

Kobe held Jenny's hand for comfort and to be comforted. He knew that when Cindy was going to finish her song, they were going to have to go out and face the monsters that were out there. Who knew how much time he would have left with Cindy, or Mina, and most of all Jenny. It was Jenny this was song was for. To Kobe, this song was for Jenny.__

If I had a box just for wishes and dreams that had never come true, the box would be empty except for the memory of how they were answered by you.

But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you wanna do once you find them. I've looked around enough to know that you're the one I wanna go through time with.

Mina looked up at Cindy, and she smiled to her baby sister. "Close your eyes, Mina. Listen to my voice, and don't look at anything." Mina closed her eyes and Cindy leaned Mina's head onto her shoulder, wanting to protect the baby girl from the sight that would be out there. Cindy looked at Jenny, and Jenny looked at Kobe. Kobe unlocked the door and they all stood still. But they didn't hear anything.

Kobe put his hand to the doorknob and quietly turned it. He put his eye at the creak of the opening. He didn't see any flesh-eaters. All he saw were near skeletons of bodies on the floor, the smell of rotting flesh burning everyone's noses. Kobe looked back and nodded, signaling everything was quiet. He opened the door a little wider, still no sounds or movement. He poked his head through and looked around the locker room, seeing no flesh-eaters. He opened the door and stepped outside. "Stay close," he said to Cindy and Jenny. He held the broomstick tightly, and so did Jenny with her own. Kobe led the way out of the locker room, and there seemed to be no trace of life. Everything seemed safe so far. With every door, it took over 5 minutes to walk through because Kobe needed to make sure there weren't any flesh-eaters. When Kobe opened the 5th door, Cindy was relieved to see stairs leading up. Cindy looked back at her sister with a gleaming smile, and Jenny nodded with a relieved smile. Kobe continued leading the way upstairs when they heard a faint grunt. They jerked their head back quickly and saw a flesh-eater that spotted the 3.

"Go go go!" Jenny shouted. Kobe immediately ran upstairs with Cindy following behind, and Jenny behind Cindy. They ran upstairs as fast as they could, making so much noise from all the pounding of their feet. It seemed as if the sounds of their soles pounding the stairs attracted even more flesh eaters. When Kobe and Cindy turned the corner to continue running up the next flight of stairs, the door flung open separating Kobe, Cindy, and Mina against Jenny.

Jenny screamed from fright and from unbearable pain as a pair of teeth bit into her arm. But Jenny wasn't going to go down from a bite. She impaled the flesh-eater with her broomstick, and she was afraid. She backed away from the flesh-eater that fell limp onto the floor, and she felt a strong grasp on her other arm. Jenny couldn't feel her legs, but was running up the flight of stairs being physically led by Kobe. She looked up to see Cindy leading the way with Mina still in her arms, still with her eyes closed. Cindy opened the door to the rooftop and the sun shone through brightly in such contrast with what the world was going through. Kobe and Jenny ran to the rooftop and Kobe shut the door behind him.

They made it. They made it to the rooftop alive, but bitten was Jenny. The adrenaline rush of having survived to the rooftop was calming down in Jenny, and she started to feel a tingling sensation in her arm, one that was unpleasant. She looked down at her arm and saw the chunk of flesh that was bitten off by the flesh-eater. "Jenny," Cindy stated exasperated.

"I'm fine," Jenny quickly shrugged off strongly. She then headed to the edge of the rooftop to look down at the city. "Oh my god..." The streets were filled with flesh-eaters everywhere. It was as if all the civilians had been replaced with the walkers. Cindy put Mina down and Mina opened her eyes to see herself on the rooftop. Cindy told Mina to stay put, and Mina did as told. Cindy looked down to see what Jenny and Kobe were looking at.

"What'll we do now?" Cindy asked. Neither answered. They were thinking about how to escape, but it seemed so damn hard with all the walkers everywhere. "They're everywhere. Where can we go?" Kobe and Jenny observed the streets but couldn't find a solution. Cindy observed the other rooftops, and noticed a girl on the other side of the rooftop. "Look!"

Jenny and Kobe looked to where Cindy was pointing, and they saw the girl there, too. "Hey!" they all shouted at the girl. But the girl didn't turn around. "Hey, you, girl!" The girl turned around slowly, and they saw that she was holding a gun. They all watched as the girl put the gun to her temple. Cindy immediately ran to Mina and covered Mina from seeing what was about to happen. Jenny screamed from shock just after the sound of the gunshot. Cindy glanced back and didn't see the girl anymore. Cindy told Mina to stay put once more, and she went to Jenny and Kobe's side.

"Did she..."

"Yeah," Kobe answered. Jenny was still in shock and she wobbled. Kobe held Jenny before she could've fallen, and he helpd her sit down.

"I-I'm fine," Jenny hoarsely answered. Something was wrong with her voice and the way it sounded. It sounded as if Jenny was getting sick.

"Jenny, you look pale. And you're sweating," Cindy said examining her sister's face. She put her hand to her sister's forehead and it was burning like a stove. "Oh my god, you have a fever."

"We need to (gasp) figure out a way out of here," Jenny stated sickly.

"We can stay here until you get better," Cindy answered.

"No. We need to get going. We can't stay up here forever."

"But Jenny-"

"Listen to me!" Jenny wheezed after shouting and she gasped for air. Kobe gently laid Jenny down and she pushed Kobe away. She was still so stubborn, refusing to receive help from anyone even when shit happened to her and the world. "Kobe, stay with Mina for now, please." Kobe was silent, but agreed. He left Cindy and Jenny alone to take care of Mina. "Cindy, listen to me. I'm not feeling well. I don't think I'll recover from this."

"No, Jenny, don't say that," Cindy cried with large bulky tears flowing down.

"Cindy, listen to me. Take care of Mina, and don't leave Kobe's side. He'll take care of you, and you'll take care of Mina, understand? You're the big sister now."

"You're going to come with us, Jenny. We're gonna make it back to Manhattan Beach back home to mom and dad, and Philip, Johnny, Jay, Hansel, and Sean. We'll make it back home and we'll feed the dogs, and we'll go out to our beach and we'll all be so happy again."

"You do that, Cindy. I know you'll make it back home," Jenny smiled weakly. "You'll make it back home with Mina and Kobe, but you need to leave me here."

"No, Jenny-"

"Cindy, please. You're a big girl, and I trust you with all my heart. I know you. You're a warrior, a survivor. You can do it. I love you so much, Cindy, so much. I love you so much," Jenny stated and burst into tears as if it was finally hitting her that she wasn't going to make it. "Be strong, little sister. Be strong for Mina and Kobe." Cindy held onto Jenny's hand and wept. Kobe came to Cindy's side and Cindy had to step away. She went to Mina's side and held her baby sister in her arms, taking her far away from where Jenny and Kobe were.

Cindy looked at the two, Kobe holding Jenny's hand and weeping. She couldn't hear what the two were talking about, and she didn't want to know. Kobe wept louder and he held Jenny in his arms, and Cindy knew Jenny had passed on. Cindy wept again, this time holding Mina. Mina held onto her older sister, having no clue what was going on. After weeping and having a moment of silence for Jenny, Kobe and Cindy stood side by side. Cindy put her sweater over Jenny's face to cover her, and the two knew they needed to move on. Cindy held Jenny's broomstick in her hand while Kobe held his in his hand. "Where do we go now?" Cindy asked.

Kobe scanned the city streets, but walkers were still dominating. "There's no way we can make it on the streets." The two were quiet for some time.

"The woods," Cindy stated. She remembered the woods that were not too far away from the city. "Maybe it'll be safer in the woods, and we won't be as exposed than the city. We can hide in the trees and...and we'll get food in the woods and water."

"How are we gonna get there?" Kobe asked, agreeing that it was a good idea to head into the woods.

"I remember the woods is east of here. We...we can...we can try getting there without being caught. Maybe we can leave at nightfall." Kobe nodded and when the two turned around, they couldn't believe it. Jenny was sitting up. She was sitting up and looking right at the two. She stumbled onto her feet and limped towards the two.

"Jenny!" Cindy exclaimed and took a step forward to her sister. But Cindy froze. There was emptiness in her eyes, no life in her face, no color in her skin. Her limp reminded her too familiarly about the flesh-eaters she first encountered in the arena. Cindy staggered back, broomstick still in her hand. "She's...she's one of them..."

"I can't...I can't do it," Kobe said taking a step back. Cindy looked at him, and she knew what she had to do.

"She's my sister. I'll do it." Cindy held the broomstick tightly in her hands. "Make sure Mina doesn't see this." Kobe held the baby girl in his embrace, turning to the side so he wouldn't have to see it. Cindy looked back at her sister, grunting and limping towards her the way flesh-eaters had done before. "I'm sorry, Jenny." Cindy took in a deep breath and jammed the broomstick in Jenny's head. Jenny fell limp and Cindy took the broomstick out, puking all over the floor.

Cindy staggered away, falling to the floor feeling weak. She had just killed her sister. She couldn't believe it. Kobe knelt down to Cindy and picked her up in his other arm, holding her tight. He glanced at Jenny and saw the hole in her forehead from the impalement. He wept in Cindy's embrace, and Cindy was shaking.

Kobe, Cindy, and Mina remained at the rooftop until night fell. They knew it was finally time. Kobe held both broomsticks in each hand while Cindy held Mina tightly in her embrace. "Follow me closely, Cindy. Don't leave me."

"I won't," Cindy nodded. Kobe led the way downstairs to the ground floor of the arena, and it was quiet. They didn't encounter any walkers until they were getting closer to the entrance of the arena. Kobe impaled the few remaining walkers in the arena, and he continued leading the way. They stepped out of the arena and quietly and quickly examined the city. "East," Cindy reminded him. Kobe nodded and led the way with Cindy by his side. They ran as quietly as they could east. They easily slipped past the walkers who couldn't see as well as Kobe and Cindy could at night. Though the walkers heard footsteps, it seemed to have disappeared when they turned around.

Kobe and Cindy blended in the night, feeling a little more hopeful and confident that they would make it to the woods. "There it is," they both exclaimed seeing the visible trees.


	3. Chapter 3

"Look, a river!" Cindy exclaimed with Mina in her arms. Kobe, Cindy, and Mina had been venturing through the woods for a couple of days. They were all weary, hungry, and nearly dying from the struggle to survive. Kobe and Cindy ran to the river and she put Mina down. All three cupped their hands in the river and took a sip of the refreshing water. "Maybe we can find some fish here."

Cindy washed the jagged broomsticks in the river and peered into the water for signs of sea life. Kobe watched Cindy try to catch fish the old hunter-gatherer way, but she couldn't. "Here, lemme try," Kobe offered and stood up with his broomstick. Kobe tried for a few minutes but he was unsuccessful too.

"Yeah, not as easy as it looks, huh?" Cindy asked. Kobe looked at her and the two started grinning. He gave a laugh and shook his head. "Hey, let's make a bet. If I can gather more fish than you, you gotta figure out a way we can play some basketball around here."

"What?"

"I'm getting restless, and I need a stress-reliever. You know basketball is the only way."

"Yeah, but how the hell am I supposed to figure out a way we can play basketball here? First of all, there isn't a basketball and second, we're in the forest. A ball won't bounce well here."

"That's why I said you gotta figure out a way," Cindy smiled. "Challenge forwarded."

"...challenge accepted." Cindy and Kobe stood side-by-side on the rocks embedded in the river. They turned their backs to each other to start fishing for the competition. Cindy squealed when she saw that she got one fish, then two, and three. She turned around to see Kobe with 5 fish stuck on his broomstick like a kabob. "What the! How did you do that?"

"The Black Mamba accepted yo challenge, little girl," Kobe grinned and messed up Cindy's hair playfully. The two laughed and went back to Mina who was watching the two laughing. "Alright, I'll go gather some woods to-"

"Wait!" Cindy grabbed Kobe's arm and stood still. "Do you hear that?" Kobe stood still and so did Mina, looking up at the two adults. "Sounds like..."

"Sounds like girls laughing." Kobe and Cindy looked at one another, and the sound of girls' laughter grew louder. They were getting closer. Kobe held his jagged broomstick up but Cindy put her hand on his arm warmly.

"They sound human, don't they?" she asked. Kobe eyed Cindy, not wanting to take a chance. But he agreed. They saw two blonde girls, one much older than the other, walk through the bushes. The two girls gasped and froze the same way Cindy and Kobe were frozen. The 5 stood there silently, looking at the other. "Who are you?" Cindy demanded first.

"I'm Andrea," the older girl spoke first, "and this is my younger sister, Amy. We're just here to fish."

"You got a camp?" Kobe asked.

"We do," Amy chided. "It's a little up towards the hills, but we've got a whole group of people there. You should come back with us."

"Amy!" Andrea protested.

"What? They're people just like us."

"We can't just bring strangers into the group."

"Why not? They need help, and besides like Dale always says, 'The more the merrier'." Amy then turned her attention back to the 3 standing across from her. "If you don't mind waiting for us to fish, we can take you back to camp." Kobe and Cindy nodded, waiting for the two sisters to fish. Kobe, Cindy, and Mina stood behind while watching the two sisters whisper to themselves.

"You trust them?" Kobe asked.

"Why not? The only things we can't trust in this world are those flesh-eaters. Besides, look at 'em. We could take 'em down easily." Cindy smiled to Kobe and he shook his head.

"It's not a joke, Cindy. What if they're thieves?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure that little girl could definately beat me up and steal my fish kabob, and that older girl, yeah, she could kick your ass anyday." Kobe hated when Cindy got sarcastic like this, but he knew she was right. What could these two do to harm the basketball star and his sidekick?

"God, you're just like your sister," Kobe growled as he rolled his eyes at Cindy. Yet, he couldn't help but feel a heartbeat skip and a subtle smile at the corner of his lip where Cindy couldn't see. Talking about Jenny wasn't such a sensitive topic anymore. The pain of her death had slightly alleviated because both Cindy and Kobe knew that they needed to move on with this unnatural reality.

Cindy looked up to look at the two sisters laughing and joking around as they were fishing side-by-side. In one second, Cindy shut down.

_"Shut up, Cindy," Jenny laughed and nudged her sister in the arm._

"So now I come to you with open arms," Cindy sang with her arms wide open and an overly dramatic expression on her face. "Cus Billie Jean is not mah lover." Cindy did a spin like the King of Pop and started dancing in her own world, imitating the King of Pop.

Philip, 23-years-old and brother of Cindy and Jenny, sang the bass and gave a drum beat with his feet. Johnny, 19-years-old and brother of Cindy and Jenny, sang the "ooh" melody. Cindy kept dancing in her own little world happy, and without the smallest worry in the world.

"Cindy!" Cindy jumped from Kobe yelling her name out. She looked at him with her eyes widened, and he motioned his head indicating that the two sisters finished fishing. She saw the large catch and asked Kobe how long it had been. "A long ass time. You just stood there staring and I couldn't get you to focus."

"Really? I don't remember you yelling my name before."

"What were you thinking about?"

"...my siblings," Cindy confessed with a sigh. "C'mon, let's go." Mina walked inbetween Cindy and Kobe as the 3 walked behind Andrea and Amy. "So how many people are at your camp?"

"Quite a few," Amy answered. "No one my age, though. How long have you three been in the woods?"

"A couple of days," Cindy replied. "We were at the All-Star game when it happened. What about you?"

"We were coming up from a road trip to my college here in Atlanta. We got stranded and Dale helped us. He's back at the camp. Were you with other people?" Cindy and Kobe looked at one another and Cindy answered.

"Yes, my sister, Jenny." Amy and Andrea stopped walking and looked behind at Cindy.

"I'm sorry," they both replied genuinely apologetic. Cindy nodded and the two sisters continued leading the 3 to their camp. The acquaintances arrived at a large clearing where there were quite a few motored vehicles along with quite a few more people.

"You made it back, girls," an old man smiled widely. "And they brought some friends." All the campers looked up when the man said that Andrea and Amy brought along friends. Immediately, a ripped man stood up and had his hand to his belt for his gun. He walked up to the three and examined them.

"Who are you?" the man asked with a Southern accent.

"I'm Cindy, and this is my baby sister, Mina."

"Kobe." The man eyed Kobe.

"Kobe Bryant?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"They were lost in the woods when we met them," Andrea spoke up.

"Well, it was good of you to have brought them," Dale chirped from his RV. "Now, let's get the fishes ready for dinner. It's getting close to nightfall." Everyone looked to the ripped man still eying the 3. The man nodded and everyone went about their business again. Cindy, Mina, and Kobe followed Andrea and Amy towards the RV. The two sisters went inside the RV, but the 3 stayed outside.

"It's a lotta people, huh?" Cindy asked.

"Yeah. Maybe now we can go back home."

"Yeah, but not so soon. We should recooperate first, then go home." Kobe agreed and Amy came out.

"Hey, so Dale has only one extra space but it's pretty small. We're thinking it could fit Cindy."

"And Mina, too?"

"Er...it would be barely big enough to fit you."

"You can stay with me and my family," Lori offered walking to the 4. "It's just me, my husband, and my son. But our tent is big enough to fit just the two girls. And I can ask Shane to share for Kobe."

Cindy and Kobe thanked the woman, and she came back with the ripped man. Shane pointed out his tent to Kobe and agreed to share his hospitality. Lori then showed Cindy where her tent was. She then called out for her son, Carl. Out came a young boy and he ran to his mother's side. "Carl, this is Cindy and Mina. They're going to be sleeping in our tent with us."

"Hi," the boy greeted shyly.

"Hello, Carl," Cindy smiled and reached out to gently shake the boy's hand. He smiled shyly when she shook his hand. "Mina, darling, say hello to Carl."

"Hello," Mina greeted. "I'm 3-years-old. How old are you?"

"I'm 12," Carl smiled at the adorable baby girl. "Do you wanna meet Sophia? She lives with Carol and Ed."

"Carl, ask her sister first," Lori sternly said.

"Can she meet Sophia, Cindy?" Carl asked.

"Keep her close," Cindy kindly warned. She couldn't fully trust that a 12-year-old boy could take responsibility of being a supervisor, but she wanted Mina to make friends with the other children. She watched Mina take Carl's hand as he led her to a girl around the same age as Carl.

"Don't worry. I always have both eyes on my son," Lori reassured Cindy. Cindy smiled sheepishly.

"Thank you again for taking us in. It means a lot to us."

"Of course. We've all been through hell. What kind of people would we be to turn you away back into there?" Cindy nodded. "How long have you been in the forest?"

"A couple of days. You?"

"A little over a week. My husband...just today."

"What do you mean?"

"He...he was in a coma before all of this happened. And he...just...showed up today. Out of nowhere, just like you three."

"Sounds like Superman," Cindy gently stated with a smile. Lori awkwardly smiled, and Cindy walked towards Shane's tent. She and Kobe offered to help prepare dinner, so they started the bonfire. They all had fish on sticks and everyone was enjoying a delicious meal. Everyone was trying to lighten up the mood, and it was a fun conversation to be engaged in.

But today, Cindy was tired. It seemed her body turned off from being so relieved that they found safety within a group. "You okay?" Kobe asked quietly to Cindy, trying not to get anyone's attention.

"Yeah, I'm just tired. Do you think you can take care of Mina for a while? I'm gonna lie down for a bit." Kobe nodded and Cindy stepped into the tent. The minute she rested her head on the pillow, she drifted into sleep.

_Jenny and Cindy were sitting on a boulder embedded near the shore of the beach. The wind was blowing their hair away from their face, and the strong sea smell made Cindy feel back home. "We're home," Cindy smiled. "We're back home, Jenny."_

"No, not yet," she sighed. She looked at her little sister. "You still have a long way to go, little sister."

"W-what? But...but look, I'm home. It's our beach. And that's our house."

"No. Wake up, little sister. This isn't our home. Wake up and look! WAKE UP!

Cindy jerked awake when she heard a loud grunt and she gasped loudly seeing a walker inside the tent. The walker heard her gasp and snarled, walking with its arms out towards Cindy. She kicked the walker away as quickly as she could, and it stumbled back a bit. Cindy grabbed her blanket and threw it over the walker so that it couldn't see. The walker grunted and Cindy flew on top of the walker, twisting its head as hard as she could. She heard the walker still snarling and Cindy stomped her feet on the walker's head. She heard the skull crack and she jumped on the face even harder. She stomped and stomped and stomped until the walker lay still.

There was a battle going on outside, Cindy could hear. _Mina. _Cindy grabbed her pillow and ran out, using the pillow as a shield. Cindy kept walking trying to find Mina. "Watch out!" a man's voice shouted. Cindy looked to where the voice came from, and she saw a walker right in front of her with its mouth wide open to take a nice big bite out of Cindy's face.

The walker fell on the floor and Cindy saw a small dagger lodged in the back of its head. Cindy took a step back and saw Shane running towards her. He grabbed his dagger out of the walker's head and shouted, "You brought a pillow out to fight?" Cindy saw a walker coming up behind Shane, and she shoved him aside. She took the stuffing out of the pillow and with one swoop, she put the bag over the walker's head. Cindy pushed the walker down and smashed its head the same way she did before.

Cindy heard a bunch of men shouting and she looked to see a group of men shooting down the remaining walkers. Cindy saw Carl running past her and into the arms of the man who was leading that other group. She knew that had to be Rick Grimes. "Mina!" Cindy shouted frantically.

"Cindy!" Mina shouted from behind. Cindy turned and saw Mina running out of the RV with Lori by her side. Cindy held Mina in her arms tightly, feeling her heart about to pound out of her chest. Kobe held Cindy and Mina in his embrace, glad the two girls were alive.

"I remember my dream now. Why I dug those holes," Jim spoke. The group looked over at the campsite, both humans and walkers dead. It was a horrendous carnage attack with despairing results.


	4. Chapter 4

_Cindy was crying on the boulder embedded within the ocean. Through the icy wind ocean, she felt her sister's warm presence. "Cindy, darling, why are you crying?" Jenny asked wrapping her arms around her little sister._

_"I caught Russell cheating on me," Cindy confessed with a sob._

_"What?! Ah hell no! I'm gonna kick his ass-"_

_"Jenny-"_

_"Don't try to stop me, Cindy, because you know you can't. You mess with my family, you're gonna get an ass-whooping. He should know better by now after all the ass-whooping I gave him before." Cindy was quiet. "Cindy, you're going to find a much better guy than Russell. Fuck him. He's a piece of shit that doesn't know anything. Besides, boys your age are too immature. I've always told you, Cindy, you need an older guy."_

_"But I don't want older guys!"_

_"Well, too bad. Older guys are the only ones that can tame you. Look at Victor! You guys were so good together. It just sucks that you got sick of him. You only like younger guys because they're fun."_

_"So you're telling a 20-year-old to settle down?"_

_"Not settle down," Jenny laughed, "but choose guys that'll treat you right."_

_"So basically you mean choose a guy that you're gonna choose for me?"_

_"Hey! I always choose good guys, don't I? All my guy friends adore you more than their own sisters. Don't even deny it."_

Cindy jumped from fright when a gunshot rung through her ears. She was holding Mina in her arms and she saw Andrea grieving over Amy, who she had just shot. Cindy held onto Mina tighter, so relieved that her baby sister was alright. "You okay, baby girl?" Kobe asked kneeling down next to Cindy.

Cindy sniffled, but the rotten stench of burning walkers pained her nose. She looked around and saw her acquaintances burying their loved ones that didn't make it out from the carnage. "I'm glad you and Mina are alright," Cindy quietly stated.

"Rick plans to go head to the CDC for help, but Shane wants to go to Fort Benning-"

"He's bit! He's bit!" Jacqui shouted and ran away from Jim. Every single person stood erect and stared at Jim. Jim tried to convince everyone that he was fine, but no one believed him. Daryl lifted up Jim's shirt and there was a bite wound on his stomach.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head," Daryl growled. "The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers." Most of the group agreed, backing farther away from Jim. Cindy looked at Jim and saw panic and fear in his eyes, but it was far more different than how Jenny looked when she was bit. She could see that this man was more weaker, more afraid.

"No!" Cindy spoke up. Everyone looked at the petite girl standing with her head held high, commanding respect and authority. "We don't kill the living."

"I don't take orders from a little girl," Daryl spat and grabbed his pickaxe. He was about to take a swing at Jim but Rick put his gun to Daryl's head.

"We don't kill the living," Rick sternly spoke agreeing with Cindy.

"Funny, coming from a guy who just put a gun to my head." Daryl stormed off and Cindy looked at Rick. The man didn't turn to look at Cindy and instead walked off to his wife and son. Kobe, Cindy, and Mina stuck by one another, but Mina was getting restless remaining in Cindy's arms for hours. Kobe offered to help bury the dead, so Cindy walked over to where Lori and Carl were as she put Mina down. Mina ran to Carl and held his hand tightly, and Carl engaged with the baby girl.

"Do you think the CDC will be safe?" Cindy asked Lori. Lori was quiet.

"I trust my husband."

"Kobe, Mina, and I aren't going to stay. We're going to go back home."

Lori looked at Cindy to see if she was telling the truth, and she could see how firm Cindy was in her statement. "Where is your home?"

"California."

"California? That's on the other side of the country."

"Yes, I know where California is relative to Georgia."

"I...I'm saying that it's dangerous. The group needs to stay together," Lori said with her voice lowered, trying to hide her anxiety.

"Lori, I need to find my family. I have 5 brothers and my parents waiting for me. I hoped you'd be able to understand." Lori was quiet. There was no way she could argue against Cindy wanting to find her family.

"When were you planning to leave?"

"When you're going to head over to the CDC. I know it'll be a walk but...I've gotta try."

"We'll give you a car and some guns."

"Thank you," Cindy nodded. It was a silent nightfall, and mostly everyone was in their tents already. Mina was fast asleep in the Grimes' tent, but Cindy couldn't sleep. She quietly left the tent and saw Shane, Kobe, Glenn, and Dale sitting around the campfire. Kobe waved his hand, signaling for Cindy to sit by his side. She did so, and Glenn and Dale greeted her.

Cindy stared into the campfire, reminiscing.

_"You hate being home now, don't you?" Cindy asked._

_"What? No, never! I love being home. I get to see my family, my beautiful little sister," Jenny smiled and pinched Cindy's cheek like a baby. The two sisters laughed._

_"Then why are you leaving so soon? You just got back two weeks ago."_

_"You'll understand when you get older, Cindy."_

_"I wanna know now, though." Jenny eyed her little sister and knew curiosity was getting the better of her._

_"Well, I'm leaving early because...I belong there."_

_"But...what about home?"_

_"It's hard to explain, Cindy, but I'll try my best. This house, it used to be my home. Mom and dad, all the babies and dogs, this used to be my home. But you have to grow out of mom and dad's little protection bubble. You need to go out into the world and experience life outside of home. That's why my new home is in Connecticut."_

_"But why can't this place be your home, too?"_

_"Because you can't rip your heart in two. It can only be in one place. Just like love. You can't share your heart to two men. It can only be given as one to one."_

_"So you're choosing Connecticut over us?"_

_"No, no, not choosing them over you. It's just...my time to be there and not here."_

"Cindy, wake up," Kobe nudged Cindy lightly. She jumped and saw that the 3 men were gone from the campfire. "What were you thinking of?"

"...do you think it's a good idea to go back home?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...do you think it's a good time to go back home? We just got our energy back, and it'll be harder if it's just you, me, and Mina again."

"But your family is waiting for you. And MY family is waiting for me."

"...I don't think I wanna leave. Not yet, at least."

"Cindy-"

"If you need to go back to Vanessa and your girls, fine. Lori said she'll give us a car and some guns. But I need to think about Mina. It's us against however many walkers are out there. It's...it's just not realistic right now."

"That was always your problem, Cindy. You always get blindsided by your attachment to things. Cindy, I'm telling you, we need to go back home now or never."

"Don't give me that, Kobe. Don't give me two options when we have the option to stay and leave later. I'm not leaving with Mina. You can go to California without me, but I'm asking you to please stay with me. Don't leave me." Kobe was quiet and needed to think. Cindy sat next to Kobe just as silent as he was.

"When Jenny was dying on the rooftop, she told me...she told me to never leave your side. I promised her I'd never let anything hurt you or Mina under my watch. You're putting me in a helluvah position, Cindy."

"I'm sorry. But I'm staying." Cindy kissed Kobe on his cheek and went back into the tent.

The next morning, Shane was giving instructions on how to stay in group when one family announced they wouldn't be joining the group. They had a family back in Birmingham and wanted to be with his family. As Rick was handing the man a gun while everyone was bidding goodbye to that family.

Cindy eyed Kobe and he didn't budge. "Are you staying?" she whispered to him. He looked really upset about it, but he answered that he was staying. Cindy smiled and held Kobe's hand tightly, so relieved that he wasn't going to leave. "I promise we'll go back home soon." Kobe, Mina, and Cindy hitched a ride with Shane in a truck.

For that hour ride, it was the most silent car ride Cindy had ever been in. "Wonder if the radio's working," Kobe groaned and turned on the radio. Nothing. "Guess it'll be a quiet ride."

"Then why don't you sing for us, Mamba?" Cindy asked with her eyes closed and head leaned back.

_Now lemme welcome everybody to the wild wild west, _Kobe rapped. _A state that's untouchable like Elliot Ness. The track hits yo eardrum like a slug to yo chest. Pack a vest for your Jimmy in the city of sex. We in that sunshine state with a bombass hemp-beat, the state where you never find a dance floor empty. And pimps be on a mission for them greens, lean mean money-makin' machines, servin' fiends. I been in the game for ten years makin' rap tunes ever since honeys was wearin' sassoon. Now it's '95 and they clock me and watch me, diamonds shinin' lookin' like I robbed Liberace. It's all good, from Diego to the Bay. Your city is the bomb if your city makin' pay, throw up a finger if you feel the same way. Kobe, puttin' it down for Californ-i-a._

_California knows how to party, _Cindy sang and snapped her finger to the beat. Kobe sang along with Cindy and the two started dancing in the car, making it jump as Shane was driving and watching these two making fools of themselves. _California knows how to party. In the city of LA, in the city of good ol' Watts, in the city the city of Compton, we keep it rockin'. We keep it rockin'._

_Out on bail fresh outta jail, California dreamin'. Soon as I stepped on the scene I'm hearin' hoochies screamin', fiendin' for money and alcohol the life of a west side playa where cowards die. Only in Cali where we riot, not rally, to live and die. In LA, we wearin' Chucks not Ballies-_

_Yeah, that's right,_ Kobe shouted.

_Dressed in Locs and khaki suits and ride is what we do. Flossin' but have caution, we collide with other crews. Famous cus we program worldwide. Let 'em recognize from Long Beach to Rosecrans, bumpin' and grindin' like a slow jam. It's west side. So you know the row won't bow down to no man. Say what you say, but gimme that bomb beat from Dre, lemme serenade the streets of LA from Oakland to Sacktown, the Bay Area and back down. Cali is where they put the mack down, gimme love! _Mina laughed watching her sister and Kobe finally having a fun time dancing, snapping, and melodizing with the song. Mina clapped her hands and swayed her body with the song. Shane snorted and shook his head. "Hey c'mon, you serious all the time?" Cindy asked Shane while still dancing.

"Whoa," Shane muttered. Cindy and Kobe looked up front to see Dale's RV slow to a stop, and so did all the other cars. Shane and Kobe left the car while Cindy stayed in with Mina, her jagged broomstick by her side. The RV's radiator had gone out, and they needed to find some equipment to fix it. While they were waiting for the radiator to be fixed, Cindy noticed some of the men carrying Jim out and tying him to a tree.

"Stay here, sweetheart. Keep this with you," Cindy said and handed Mina the jagged broomstick. Cindy left the truck and walked over towards Jim, alone and tied to the tree. "They leavin' you here?"

"I asked for it," he gasped just the way Jenny had when she was getting sicker.

"Thank you for fighting for us," Cindy respectfully stated as she kneeled down to Jim.

"Thank you for sticking up for me," the man nodded. Cindy smiled and touched the man's hand gently. She felt her heart growing tearful, and she had to walk away. When the RV was fixed, everyone continued their journey to the CDC. For the rest of the way, Cindy and Kobe were the entertainers in Shane's truck, and Shane slowly started to not mind because there was nothing he could do to make the two jokesters stop.

"We're here," Shane spoke as he slowly came to a halt. Cindy looked at the large building that seemed untouched. The sun was starting to set, but Cindy could still see the hundreds of bodies laying on the ground, dead. There were, of course, a few walkers here and there.

The group quietly approached the building with Rick in front, being the assumed leader. To everyone's demise, the building was locked. "G-Guys..." Glenn stuttered. The group looked to see the walkers heading their way, noticing the survivors.

"You led us to a dead end!" Jacqui shouted at Rick, crying hysterically.

"We can still turn around and head for Fort Benning," Shane immediately suggested.

"We're out of gas and food," Andrea brought up. "We would never make it there."

"Rick, you need to think of a plan," Lori demanded of her husband. He was the one who brought them here, now he needed a way out. Rick looked back at the walkers getting closer. Cindy lifted her head, trying to examine the building. She gasped seeing the security camera move. Cindy put Mina down and pounded her fists on the metal shutters.

"Hey! Hey, open up!" Cindy shouted. "Open up!" Cindy kicked and pounded the metal shutters, and Shane grabbed her arm tightly pulling her away from the shutters.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he shouted in Cindy's face. "You're attracting the walkers even more!"

"I saw the security camera move. I swear, I saw it move. Hey! Hey, you open these gates now!" Cindy shouted and pointed right at the camera. "Open these gates now! Please, I need to save my baby sister. Open it, now!"

"We need to go, now," Glenn panicked seeing the walkers getting closer.

"Please, if you don't let us in, you're killing us," Cindy pleaded into the camera.

"We need to go," Shane ordered everyone. Cindy pounded her fist on the shutter one last time, but nothing. Kobe dragged Cindy away with Mina in his arms, and the shutters slowly opened.


	5. Chapter 5

Cindy couldn't believe it. There really was someone in the CDC building. The group quickly ran inside and were met by a doctor with an automatic, pointing it to the group. "Why are you here? What do you want?" Dr. Jenner asked.

"A chance," Rick answered simply.

"That's asking an awful lot these days," Jenner replied.

"Please, sir, won't you let us rest?" Cindy asked pleafully. The man glanced at Cindy and looked down at Mina.

"I'll let you stay in one condition. You all must submit to a blood test." Everyone agreed, feeling it was a good deal to give some blood in exchange for safe hospitality. "Grab your things. Once this door closes, it stays closed." The group followed Jenner into CDC's basement control center. The man then shouted, "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." The lights went up and the man introduced this basement as Zone 5.

The doctor immediately started taking blood samples for everyone. Mina winced away seeing the needle and Cindy held her sister warmly. "It's alright, darling. It'll only hurt for just a little." Cindy held her sister's hand warmly and Mina yelped when the doctor drew her blood. "Where are the other doctors?"

"I'm all that's left," the man replied without looking at Cindy. The man then took a blood sample of Cindy's. Andrea scoffed at the idea of a blood test, saying that if any of them were infected that they would be running with a fever. The doctor didn't care. After he took Andrea's blood, she wobbled from fatigue. Jacqui caught Andrea and told Dr. Jenner that no one had eaten in days. After taking everyone's blood test, the man showed everyone to their rooms, reminding that they needed to conserve electricity.

Cindy walked into a room that was meant for her, Mina, Jacqui, and Andrea. Cindy sat on the windowsill, looking out at the sun setting in the purple sky. "You okay?" Andrea asked.

"Yeah," Cindy simply replied.

"Where's Mina?"

"With Carl and Sophia."

"I wish Amy could be here. I feel a little guilty that I'm here."

"You shouldn't think like that," Cindy replied looking at the sun still. "I know Amy is glad that you found a safe place to live. And I know my sister is glad, too." Andrea was quiet. "Hey, and...I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about my sister."

"Of course," Andrea nodded and she left the room.

"Hey, Cinderella, the doctor wants us down at the basement," Kobe spoke outside of Cindy's room. She looked back and saw him standing at the open door. Cindy smiled, not having heard her nickname in a while. "Mina's already downstairs with the rest. C'mon, let's go eat." Cindy walked down to the basement with Kobe. "Seems like we can finally get a chance to get good rest, huh?"

"Yeah. You know, I'm actually almost ready to go back home. Do you think they're all alright?"

"Hey, no one ever gets hurt under Batman's watch." Cindy smiled because of Kobe's little joke about her eldest brother, Philip, 23-years-old. He was called Batman because Philip was the ultimate protector. Even when no one wanted his protection, he always gave it because of his desire to be good and to help his family. He was also a very intelligent man, being able to figure out different ways to approach a solution. Cindy wished that if it was anyone, she would want to be with Philip to help her get back home. But it was just her and Kobe, and she needed to do the best she could to see her family once more.

Kobe and Cindy were ecstatic seeing a feast prepared with bottles of wine. The group enjoyed their time with the food and wine. Glenn was already drunk, and Daryl made fun of the Asian kid. Carl even took a sip of the wine and hated it. Rick gave a toast to the doctor, and Cindy noticed the doctor raising his glass weakly.

Even with the celebration going on, there was still some questions that needed to be answered. "When are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here?" Shane asked the doctor after gulping down his wine. Jenner explained that most of the doctors fled, the rest too afraid to walk out the door so they opted out.

"Why did you stay?" Cindy asked.

"I...hoped to do some good," the doctor replied half-heartedly, as if he had already failed in what he hoped. After dinner, everyone separated ways to prepare for sleep. Mina was already fast asleep in the comfortable bed, and Cindy decided to just take a walk around. She headed back down to the basement to see if the doctor was there, and there he was with Rick. Cindy heard Rick confess to the doctor that he never let on to the others what he truly thought, that they were running out of options before heading to the CDC.

Rick thanked the doctor again for giving them a chance to survive, and the doctor nodded. Rick then stood up and was surprised to see Cindy there watching the two men talking. He walked past Cindy, and she followed the man. "You sure masked it well, Rick." He stopped and looked back at her. She could see he was buzzed from the alcohol, but she wasn't because she didn't enjoy getting intoxicated. He started to walk again and Cindy ran to his side like a little child. "So you're the leader of this group?"

"No, not the leader," he replied.

"Well, these people look to you as the leader. It's obvious they do." Rick didn't say anything. He had never had a conversation with Cindy before, and it was a bit awkward that it was about leadership. "I know you were a cop before, Rick, but you shouldn't be the only leader in the group. I'll help." Rick looked at Cindy. This 5 foot 4 inch young girl was offering to share leadership with the young middle-aged police officer who had more leadership credentials than the girl.

"What do you know about leading?"

"I'm the head chef in my restaurant. I know how to lead," Cindy replied with ultimate confidence and her head held up high. He had seen this look before, when she had defended Jim from being pick-axed by Daryl. That reminded him of his curiosity of her bravery. He wondered where this little girl had all her bravery invested in. Was it her wits? Her charm?

"Yeah, well leading chefs and leading people are different."

"How? Aren't chefs people, too? I'm not asking you to share your position. I'm telling you that I'm going to stay with the group, and my voice will be heard. You're looking out for your family and basing decisions on them, so am I. Goodnight." Cindy nodded at Rick and walked away. As Cindy headed upstairs, she saw Shane quickly walking towards his room in the hallway. She could sense that he was tense, and he slammed the door behind him in his room.

The next morning, Cindy stirred awake with the sun shining in her face brightly. She sat up in bed and felt Mina stirring awake. Cindy smiled down at her baby sister, seeing the little girl fluttering her eyes open and yawning like a kitten. "Good morning, my love," Cindy kissed Mina good morning.

"I had a dream."

"Oh? What was it about?" Cindy asked holding Mina in her arms while sitting up in bed.

"I can't tell! Or else it won't come true," Mina smiled. She started humming _A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes_, and she asked Cindy to sing it for her. Cindy glanced to see Andrea still asleep but Jacqui wasn't there.

_A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep._

Rick was hung over and he was shuffling out of his room towards the basement for breakfast. He heard a faint voice singing beautifully, and he walked towards the opened door. He peeked in to see Cindy singing to Mina sitting up in bed.

_Have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing the dream that you wish will come true._

Mina had the most beautiful smile as she listened to her sister singing her favorite song. Cindy helped Mina dress up for breakfast, and the two sisters headed down. Everyone was already there, and Cindy thanked T-Dog for making the powdered eggs for everyone. The normal breakfast turned into an interview against the doctor once more, and the doctor told the group there was something they should see.

Dr. Jenner led the group into the control center and demanded Vi to show Test Subject 19 on the large screen. He explained that the video shows the infection spreading in a human. He explained that the first event of infection was the brain going dark, the body dying. Sophia wondered out loud if that was what happened to Jim, and her mother nodded.

Cindy could see how upset Andrea was, and Lori explained briefly to Dr. Jenner that Andrea's sister passed a few days before. The doctor consoled Andrea, saying he lost someone as well. Cindy looked at Kobe, and he looked back at her. No one knew about their loss except Amy and Andrea, and they wanted to keep it silent, though they wished they could get the same consolation. But both knew attachment was the last thing they needed because their goal at the end was to leave the group to go back home. Besides, Cindy didn't want pity. She didn't enjoy being pitied, and she certainly didn't want it from a group of strangers. "What's this?" Cindy asked seeing bright lights flashing on the screen.

Dr. Jenner explained it was the second event, when the brain-stem of the human is revived but not the "human part" of a person. The doctor confessed that he didn't have a treatment or knew how to even treat it, and he's lost contact with all other research facilities. "There's nothing left anywhere. That's what you're really saying, right?" Andrea angrily asked, feeling no hope when the doctor said there was no cure.

"What's the clock for, doc?" Kobe asked about the clock that was counting down from an hour. The doctor sighed, saying that the basement generators will run out of fuel when the clock runs out. The computer spoke and announced that at zero, plant-wide decontamination will occur. After the third replay of Subject 19's infection, the entire building's lights shut off. Everyone panicked and Rick demanded the doctor to explain what was going on.

The doctor explained that it was the French who lasted the longest before they ran out of power, too. He told the group that the building would decontaminate in 30 minutes, and it was too late to stop it because they didn't have any extra fuel. Rick ordered the group to grab their things when the emergency alarm started blasting. Dr. Jenner immediately pushed a button, and it locked the group inside the control center by metal bars. "There's no point in struggling. Everything topside is automatically locked down. I warned you, when that door closes it won't open again." Rick yelled at the man, shouting at him to open the doors. "It's better this way," the doctor stated.

"What happens when the clock hits zero?" Rick asked trying to keep his cool. The doctor turned his back to Rick, and Cindy stormed towards the doctor. She spun the doctor around and slapped him so hard that everyone stared for a moment, even Shane and Daryl.

"What happens when the clock hits zero?" Cindy sternly asked. The doctor didn't reply. She slapped him even harder that it caused the doctor to stumble, and she shouted in his face like a military drill sergeant, "ANSWER ME NOW!"

"Remember where you are," the doctor answered rather quickly. "We conduct research on diseases. To prevent any contamination if ever the building's security was compromised, HITs would deploy and set the air on fire. It'll decimate the building and everything inside." Cindy's mouth dropped from horror, and she stumbled back. "Death would be instant and painless. There's no hope." The doctor then turned to Rick and said, "Last night, you said yourself that you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

Daryl and Shane went on a rage, trying to break through the door with anything they could find including axes and guns. Mina ran to Cindy and she held her baby sister in her arms. Mina was too young to understand what was going on, but she was afraid because everyone else was afraid and panicking. Shane stormed towards the doctor and pointed his gun into the doctor's face. Rick tried reasoning with his partner, saying that if he killed the doctor then they would never get out of the building. "If you didn't think there was any hope, why'd you stay?" Kobe asked, trying to influence the doctor to open the gates, knowing that was the only way out.

The doctor replied that he had a wife, and he promised his wife that he would go as long as he could. "Please, you must let us go," Cindy pleaded while holding Mina tightly. "Your wife wanted to give you a chance to live and find a cure, didn't she? Give us that same chance. Let us fight for our lives till the day we can't. Sir, please, let us go." The doctor looked at Cindy and was confused and touched. This young girl had such bravery in her voice, so certain that she'd make it alive when she had a burden to carry with her at all times. "Please, let us have a chance. The same your wife gave to you."

"I have a wife and two baby girls out there, waiting for me to come home," Kobe added. "Let us go, please."

The doctor opened the door and Rick shouted for everyone to quickly gather their belongings. "I'm grateful," Rick quickly said to the doctor.

"The day will come when you won't be." The two men shook hands and the doctor whispered something to Rick. Rick looked shocked, as if he couldn't believe it.

"Rick, we need to leave," Cindy spoke to bring Rick back to what was going on. "We have 4 minutes left." Cindy eyed the doctor and left with Mina in her arms, running with Rick towards the entrance. The group headed for the exit, but Jacqui stopped. She didn't want to end up like Jim and Amy, and Jacqui took a step back. No one could believe it. And Andrea agreed with Jacqui. Dale protested, but Andrea wouldn't budge. Dale tried talking Andrea out of it, but she was stubborn.

Cindy didn't have time to reason with people who wanted to end their lives because she needed to save Mina's, so she continued towards the entrance with Rick who needed to save his family from cremation as well. The front doors were still locked, and Cindy and Rick saw the group trying to pound the wall down. Shane shot a rifle bullet at the glass, but it didn't leave a scratch. "I have something that might help," Carol spoke up as she took out a grenade. Everyone was surprised, and she stated to Rick, "Your first morning at camp, I was washing your uniform and found this."

Rick shouted for everyone to go for cover, and he detonated the window. Cindy glanced over to see a big hole in the window, and she immediately made a run for it. The walkers were attracted to the big blast and they were on the strike for the survivors. As Cindy was running with Mina in her arms, Kobe was protecting the two with a gun, shooting at walkers who were getting too close.

They ran into Shane's truck, and Shane followed. He revved up the engine, and Cindy grabbed onto Shane's arm. "Look! Dale and Andrea!" Shane and Kobe looked to see the two running out of the building.

"Duck for cover!" Shane ordered. He pushed Cindy down and covered her body with his. Never had Cindy heard or felt such an explosion. The truck skidded from the explosion impact, and Cindy was grabbing onto Shane's shirt as tightly as she could while holding Mina in her other arm. Even when the explosion was done, it was still ringing in Cindy's ears.

"They made it!" Kobe shouted, referring to Dale and Andrea who ran into the RV.

"You okay?" Shane asked Cindy. She nodded, slowly letting go of Shane's shirt from fear. Shane geared the truck to drive, and the group of survivors left the remaining ashes of the CDC.


	6. Chapter 6

The group had to leave some cars behind because they were running out of gas, one of them including Shane's truck. Shane, Cindy, Mina, and Kobe hitched a ride in Dale's RV along with Glenn and Andrea the rest of the way towards Fort Benning, their next destination. Cindy was watching Shane cleaning his gun, and he glanced up at the young girl watching him curiously. "You ever hold a gun before?" he asked continuing to clean his gun.

"Yeah. My dad and brothers liked going to the range, and I always tagged along."

_"That's not what our daughter should grow up with!" Cindy's mother yelled at her husband in their bedroom. "Do you know what that could do to her when she gets older? She'll act like a man! Spitting everywhere, roughing it up with other boys, and she could get hurt."_

_"No one can hurt, Cindy. She'd beat 'em up first. Besides, if they ever do they'll die by my hands."_

_"Robert, no. Don't take our daughter to the range anymore."_

_"But she loves it there, sweetheart."_

_"Robert, I said no." Cindy's father sighed, agreeing with his wife. He stepped into the backyard and saw a young 8-year-old Cindy waiting for the news. She ran to her father and asked, "Did mom yell at you, dad?"_

_"A little," the father smiled and picked up his daughter in his arms._

_"What did she say?"_

_"Well, she said that girls shouldn't grow up around guns. She's right, you know. It's dangerous. A gun isn't a toy, Cindy."_

_"I know that! I'm not stupid!" Cindy's father chuckled, smiling at his precious daughter. "It's not fair! How come Philip can go, but I can't?"_

_"Because sweetheart, you need to grow up around...around nice things like flowers, bunnies, teddy bears-"_

_"No way!" Cindy squirmed out of her father's grasp and she grabbed a broom. "I'm gonna grow up and be a knight, just like one of King Arthur's knights! I'm gonna be the most courageous, most smartest, and most powerful knight ever!" Cindy's father laughed and nodded._

_"Yes, my daughter. You will, I know you will."_

Cindy bit her lip, feeling a pang in her heart talking about her family. "You got a family in Georgia?"

"No, California," Cindy replied. "You?"

"Just me."

"Really? No wife or girlfriend?"

"No."

"Huh, I woulda taken you for a married man, or at least have a girl..." Shane looked up at Cindy and she flashed him a nice smile. Dale cursed loudly and Cindy looked back, running to Dale's side. Shane watched the girl looking out the front shield of the RV, and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her. Cindy was so young and something about her was so attractive. Though Shane's only interactions with Cindy were greetings of good-mornings and goodnights, he just couldn't stop staring at the girl. He didn't know whether it was her positive-attitude, her loving attitude, her brave attitude, or her stubborn attitude that attracted him. He figured it might've been how stubborn she was, seeing how stubborn she was with Kobe. Shane had always been used to girls being submissive to him, but this one was different. She was fiesty yet lovely, hot-headed yet cool, annoying yet beautiful. Kobe cleared his throat, and Shane glanced over at him. Kobe was glaring right at Shane, and Shane just snorted to himself going back to cleaning his gun.

Cindy saw the traffic snarl, hundreds of vehicles abandoned and littered with corpses everywhere. Daryl led the group on his brother's motorcycle, but Glenn (sitting in the passenger's seat) reminded Dale of the highway just a few miles back. Dale disagreed it, saying that they needed to spare their fuel. Cindy ran to the back of the RV again and told Kobe and Shane what was going on (Mina was hitching a ride with the Grimes).

The RV's radiator hose broke down again, and all the cars had to stop. They all exited their vehicles and looked around at the destruction. Dale told the group that he needed another radiator hose, and T-Dog added they needed to gather more fuel and water. Lori didn't like the idea of stopping in the middle of a graveyard, and everyone looked at one another for a sign. "Well, we should just stick around for a while," Cindy spoke up. "We do need more food and water, and fuel, too."

"Gather what you can, y'all," Shane announced. Dale climbed up to the top of the RV roof to take his post with his rifle while the others went to gather supplies. Cindy saw that Mina was holding onto Carl's hand as they and Sophia searched for supplies in Lori's watch. Cindy peered into a rusty car with a man in the passenger's seat holding onto some kind of blanket. Cindy wanted to see if she could reuse the blanket, so she opened the car door. She unraveled the blanket but saw that it was holding two long katanas. They seemed untouched, and Cindy's eyes sparkled at the beauty of the katanas.

Cindy held the two in each hand and stepped back, swinging the katanas as it sliced through the air. "Whoa, watch out," Shane said jumping away before he could've gotten sliced.

"Oh! I'm sorry," Cindy laughed sheepishly. Shane smirked at the corner of his lip and looked out into the horizon. He put his hand out for Cindy to stop walking, and she looked out to where Shane was looking. She gasped, seeing an enormous hoard of walkers walking their way. "Mina-" But before Cindy could've ran towards where she had last seen the children, Shane grabbed her hand and hid inside the backseat of the car with Cindy. "My sister-"

"Lori's got her eye on her. She'll be safe," he whispered, holding onto Cindy as he finally saw the walkers walking by the car. Cindy was afraid of so many walkers being so close, and Shane felt her trembling. He wrapped his arms tightly around Cindy, holding her hands to keep her still. Shane's warmth and protection made Cindy feel safer, and she held his hand tightly. She felt his thumb stroke the back of her hand gently, and Cindy looked at Shane. He quickly looked away and lightly loosened his grip on her. After what seemed like hours, the walkers slowly died down. Shane peered out first and saw that it was clear. "Wait here." He stepped out of the car first with his gun at hand, and he saw that the coast was clear. He put his hand out, and Cindy took it with the two katanas in her other hand.

Cindy heard two young girl screams and her heart nearly jumped out of its place. "Mina?!" Cindy saw Sophia and Mina running into the forest and a walker chasing them down. "MINA!" Without any thought, Cindy ran into the forest with her two katanas and Rick was running right behind her for Sophia. Cindy drifted off towards the left while Rick drifted off towards the right.

Cindy kept calling out Mina's name, not caring if she was attracting more walkers. She felt more powerful with her new weapons, and they were a blessing. It easily sliced through the walkers, just like cutting fish. Cindy continued calling out Mina's name, and she heard her name being called from above. She looked up and saw Mina sitting on a tree branch. Cindy killed the nearby walkers and dropped the katanas to the floor, lifting her arms in the air. Mina jumped down into Cindy's arms and Cindy kissed Mina lovingly. She grabbed her two katanas and walked back towards the group, promising Mina she'd never leave her alone again. "Did you find her? Did you find Sophia?" Carol asked hysterically.

Cindy felt her stomach turn. She had completely forgotten about Sophia. All Cindy could think about was finding her own sister that she forgot Sophia ran into the woods, too. She saw Rick standing there with his wife, being consolidated by her. Carol fell to the floor, crying hysterically and shouting Sophia's name. Shane went to Carol's side while Kobe went to Cindy's side. "How could you be so selfish?!" Carol shouted angrily at Cindy. "You saw Sophia running in the woods, too! You saw her! And you didn't help her! You selfish brat!" Carol slapped Cindy hard across the face and pushed her hard. Cindy nearly fell on her back but Kobe caught her.

Shane took Carol aside to calm her down, and Cindy stood there feeling so void. Had she really been that selfish? She was only trying to protect her blood-related sister, but she knew she should've considered about Sophia. But Cindy didn't want to lie. She honestly forgot about Sophia, but she knew Carol wouldn't have wanted to hear those words. Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Shane offered to go find Sophia in the woods again before night would fall.

Mina was in the RV while Cindy was sitting on the steps of the RV with Kobe leaning against it hands in his pockets. They were both silent. "I'm sure the little girl is fine," Kobe spoke looking out at the woods. "Daryl's a hunter."

"Do you think Carol's right? Do you think I was being selfish?"

"You tried, Cindy. You can't help everyone."

"No, I didn't try. I...I forgot about Sophia. Right when I found Mina, all I could think about was getting back to the group. I didn't think about Sophia at all," Cindy cried. She burst into tears.

"It's not your fault, Cindy. This isn't your fault-"

"But I could've brought Sophia back. Carol's right. I was selfish. I only thought about myself."

"WWJD." Cindy looked up at Kobe, tears still streaming. "What would Jenny do? C'mon, you know your sister better than I do. What would she say to you right now?" Cindy was quiet. Kobe knelt down to look at Cindy and he said, "You know what she'd say to you? She'd tell you to keep your head up, wouldn't she? She'd say, 'This isn't your fault, little sister. You didn't make Sophia run into the woods. The walker did'."

"But I made it seem like I ran after her."

"No, you went after Mina. Rick went after Sophia."

"...so...it's Rick's fault?"

"Well, he shoulda brought her back. He didn't run in there for Mina. He saw you going after Mina, which meant he shoulda went for Sophia."

"...putting the blame on Rick isn't gonna make me feel any better."

"Alright, alright, how about this. In The Dark Knight when Joker was going on his killing spree, what did Batman do?"

"...he resigned..."

"No no!" Kobe gave a chuckle and said, "When he came back from resigning. When Rachel had been taken from him and when Harvey Dent was engulfed in the flames, what did Bruce Wayne do? Did he just let that go?"

"No. He became Batman again."

"To what?"

"To fight the villains of Gotham and bring justice."

"And he fought them why? Because he could take it. That's why Gotham set its dogs on him, and that's why Gordon allowed it, because he knew Batman could take the beating. Because Batman was Gotham's watchful and silent guardian. Gotham needs a hero like Batman, but not the hero it needed at that time."

"Well, what if I can't take the beating? What if...what if it hurts too much?"

"Then that'll be the day you die. Stay strong, Cindy. You have to, for Mina. She needs you to be strong, alright? She needs to take after you." Cindy sighed but agreed with Kobe, knowing he was right. "I'll go in and make sure Mina's good. Get some air. Clear your head, alright?" Cindy nodded and watched Kobe enter the RV.

She sighed and saw Shane and Glenn walking back to the group without Rick and Daryl. Glenn walked off towards Carol while Shane walked off towards Cindy. "You okay?" he simply asked.

"Getting better. Any sign of her?"

"No," he sighed. "Rick and Daryl are continuing the search. You been crying?"

"No," Cindy furrowed her eyebrows. She hated when people could tell she was crying, and it was just a defense mechanism she built up against it. Shane didn't buy it.

"Look, it's not your fault-"

"I know it's not my fault," Cindy quickly interrupted Shane.

"Alright then," Shane nodded and coolly walked off. Cindy looked at Carol and saw her still crying with Lori trying to calm her down. Cindy took in a deep breath and walked up to Carol.

_"Go on," Cindy's mother smiled and pushed the 5-year-old Cindy forward. Cindy looked back at her mother worriedly, but her mother's smile made her feel a lot better. She walked up towards her uncle, who was furious at Cindy for breaking one of his prized vases. "Uncle Bobby?"_

_"What?"_

_"I just...I just wanted to say sorry for breaking your vase. I didn't mean to. But it's not my fault. It was in my way when I was running, and I didn't see it-"_

_"Cindy!" her mother shouted. She gave her a look that said that was not how an apology worked. Cindy gulped and looked back at her uncle._

_"I'm sorry, Uncle Bobby."_

Lori and Carol looked at Cindy just standing there. Cindy cleared her throat and said, "Carol, I...I wanted to apologize for not bringing Sophia back. I...I just...I'm sorry. But you must understand, I had to look for my sister. At that time, I didn't even think of getting Soph..." It was too late. Cindy had said too much and Carol looked like she wanted to strangle Cindy.

"You didn't THINK of getting Sophia? You just FORGOT that my baby ran in the woods with Mina? Did you not CARE that Sophia was in the woods?!"

"I-I didn't mean it like that-"

"Then what did you mean? What did you mean when you said you didn't even think of getting Sophia?" Cindy bit her tongue.

"I mean...okay, I did mean it but I was just-"

"Just be quiet and leave me alone. I can't look at you right now, Cindy. I don't think I ever can until Sophia comes back to me. Go." When Carol saw Cindy wouldn't leave, she walked away. Lori put her hand on Cindy's shoulder reassuringly but went to Carol's side. Cindy groaned, hitting her own head murmuring how stupid she was to have said that.

"Why'd you even apologize?" Cindy turned around and saw Shane there searching the other cars for anything useful.

"Because I thought that was the right thing to do. You're gonna tell me I was stupid?"

"Yeah, cus there's nothin' you need to apologize for. Just wastin' your time by doin' that."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Cindy asked angrily as Shane was getting on her nerves.

"No, to let you know how ugly you look when you're angry." Cindy gasped from Shane's comment and she saw him smirking. "Look, I know you wanna get back to your family in California." He looked back at Cindy and saw that he had her attention. "I'm plannin' to leave the group, too. Come with me." Cindy was so in shock that she just stood there like an idiot. "Bring Mina and Kobe, too. Let's just get outta here." Cindy didn't know what to say. She admitted that going with Shane would make her feel a lot safer knowing that he used to be a cop, but she couldn't leave now. Not after what she had done to Carol and Sophia. "I'll give you some time to think about it." Shane paused for a moment and said, "Think about this, too, while you're at it." He pulled Cindy in for a rough kiss. When Cindy felt Shane's tongue at her lips to part them, Kobe called out for Cindy from the RV.

Cindy immediately backed away and Shane just walked, continuing the search through the cars. Kobe called Cindy's name again and she headed over to him. She could see Kobe eyeing Shane, knowing something had happened. "What'd he do?" he immediately asked.

"Nothing. Just...kissed me," Cindy confessed leaving out the part about him asking her to run away with him.

"Wha? Did you kiss him back?" Cindy opened her mouth to answer but wasn't quite sure. When she had realized they were kissing, that was when Kobe interrupted.

"I think the question you should be asking me is would I have kissed him back if you didn't interrupt."

"Alright, so would you have kissed him back if I didn't interrupt?" Kobe asked. Cindy knew she should've just kept her big mouth shut and was quiet for a while, but answered that she would've. She then heard a lot of chatter and turned to see Rick and Daryl coming back empty-handed. Rick said they couldn't keep up any longer because night was falling. He promised they'd search at first light again. Before Cindy knew it, she was walking towards them hoping for some good news.

Carol turned around frustrated and even more so when she saw Cindy there again. "Because of you, Sophia is going to be in the woods all by herself at night," she snarled.

"Now hold on," Shane spoke up walking to Cindy's defense, "she didn't do anythin' alright? You quit blamin' her for somethin' she didn't do. She didn't chase your daughter into the woods. The walkers did." Carol couldn't stand this anymore and walked away.

"Thank you, for having my back," Cindy quickly stated before Shane could've walked away. He nodded and walked back to Rick and Daryl to talk plans over.


	7. Chapter 7

_Cindy was a black shadow in her dreams, going from rooftop to rooftop like a masked vigilante in the night. "Why's she running, dad?" Carl's voice asked._

_"Because we have to chase her," Rick replied._

_"But she didn't do anything wrong."_

_"Because she's the hero we deserve, but not the one we need right now. So we'll hunt her. Because she can take it. Because she's not our hero. She's a silent guardian, a watchful protector."_

The next morning, Rick armed Shane, Daryl, Kobe, and Glenn to get equipped to head back into the forest. Andrea demanded for her gun but she was rejected, out of fear that she would use it to kill herself again. Carl announced that he wanted to join in the search for Sophia. Lori quickly dismissed the idea, but Dale defended Carl saying, "He has all of you to look after him. I'd say he's in good hands."

"And I'll join, too," Cindy spoke with her two katanas buckled around her belt.

"You need to stay here and help watch over the group," Kobe quickly dismissed Cindy's offer.

"No. I'm going," she sternly replied. "I need to help."

"Let her come," Shane answered. "We'll need as much help we can get to cover more ground." Andrea visibly looked upset, being stuck as the RV again while everyone else went out equipped with weapons. The group split and it ended up being Shane, Kobe, and Cindy. Shane and Kobe were leading the way with Cindy following behind. Shane would secretly steal a glance from Cindy, but Kobe easily caught all of them.

"So where'd you get those swords?" Kobe asked.

"I found 'em in a car. Nice, huh?"

"Yeah. Pretty nice." That was the end of that small talk conversation, and there was silence once more. "Do you think...Sophia's okay?" Kobe asked with Cindy now walking by his side trying to keep up with his pace.

"She'll be fine," Shane answered. "It was just one night."

"And what if we don't find her? What if a week goes by and we still haven't found her?"

"We will find her," Cindy replied with her head up high. "We must...I must." Kobe and Shane glanced at Cindy and saw her walking with her lip pouting. Hours passed by, and their hope of finding Sophia dwindled into a small ray. But Cindy pressed everyone forward. "We have to keep searching."

"It's gonna be nightfall soon," Shane replied.

"We'll search again tomorrow," Kobe added. "It'll be dumb to be in the woods at night."

"You and I lived in the woods before, Kobe. Please, we need to keep looking."

"We need to go back to camp," Shane answered sternly. Cindy looked at Shane with anger flaring in her eyes.

"I'm going to look some more," Cindy stubbornly replied as she continued walking away from the two men. Kobe sighed and ran to Cindy's side, grabbing her by the arm.

"Cindy, don't make me carry you back to camp," he warned.

"Then carry me." Cindy pushed Kobe's hand off and continued walking. Kobe swept Cindy off her feet and she shouted for him to put her down, but he didn't listen. No matter how hard she punched his back or threatened him, Kobe pressed forward with Cindy over his shoulder and Shane walking behind with a barely visible smile at the corner of his lip watching this girl struggling with fruitless results.

"You keep strugglin' like that 'n' all the walkers will hear," Shane spoke.

"You're not a part of this argument," Cindy glared at Shane.

"Too late. We're back," Kobe sighed and put Cindy down. Rick, Daryl, Carl, and Glenn had already come back. Carol saw that they didn't bring back Sophia either, and she stormed away. Cindy bit her lip when Carol slammed the door to the RV shut.

"Cindy!" Mina shouted, excited to see her sister back. The baby ran to Cindy, and she held Mina in her arms warmly. "You didn't find Sophia?"

"No, we're still looking, sweetheart," Cindy answered. At night, everyone gathered around to eat dinner. "Here, darling," Cindy said filling Mina's bowl with more fish meat from her own bowl. Mina smiled and thanked her sister, gulping down the food. Kobe then gave more of his fish to Cindy. She gave a thankful smile, and he nodded.

_Cindy, 7-years-old, arrived in her dead-beat apartment holding onto Philip's, 9-years-old, hand while Jenny, 11-years-old, was holding onto Johnny's, 5-years-old, hand. They all finished school and Jenny was the one who always walked her siblings back home. As usual, their mom wasn't in the apartment because she was working._

_Ever since Cindy could remember her earliest memories, she had lived a very poor life. She lived with 3 other siblings and a single mother trying to make everything work. "What're we eating, Jenny?" Philip asked setting his bag on the floor._

_"Noodles."_

_"Again?!" all three complained._

_"We always eat noodles," Cindy complained, frustrated of having noodles for the 4th time this week. "I'm sick of it! I want yummy food! I want cheeseburger, and fries, and soda! No noodles!" Jenny told her siblings to start working on their homework, and so they did with shuffled feet. When she saw her siblings working, she quietly went into her room and closed the door behind her. She took out an envelope under her mattress and took out the 20 dollars she had received a few days ago for mowing the lawns around the neighborhood. Jenny was reluctant, but she didn't want her siblings to suffer. They were too young to understand anything. Only Jenny understood the heartache and suffering their mother persevered through to provide shelter._

_Jenny stuffed the 20 dollars in her pocket and ran out of the room. She told all her siblings to put on their jackets and shoes, and so they did. They all held hands and walked out of their apartment, heading towards the local bakery. Cindy pressed her face against the delicious, fresh-made pastries hidden in the glass case. Philip, Cindy, and Johnny bought the pastries they liked, and all the siblings sat around the table eating except for Jenny. When asked why she wasn't eating, Jenny simply replied she wasn't hungry._

Cindy finally understood everything Jenny had done for her and her siblings when they were younger. She knew Jenny didn't want to use her 20 dollars, and she knew Jenny was hungry as hell. But she did it for the sake of her little siblings. Cindy gave the rest of her food to Mina, seeing that the baby girl still wasn't satiated. "You won't have nothin' to eat," Shane spoke noticing Cindy giving Mina all her food.

"I'm not that hungry," she simply replied and gave a reassuring smile to Mina. Lori gave Cindy more food from her own bowl, and Lori gave a reassuring smile to Cindy. It must've been maternal intuition what Cindy and Lori sensed. It turned late at night, and most everyone was asleep except Rick, Shane, Daryl, T-Dog, Andrea, Kobe, and Cindy.

Cindy listened to everyone sharing their stories about what kind of physical fights they got into in their past. Daryl's story was about kicking a boy's ass for making fun of his mother, and he made it a little comical. "What about you, Cindy? You get into any fights when you were young?" Shane asked.

"Oh, you don't even know," Kobe snorted. Everyone pressed Cindy to tell them about one fight.

"Well, it was when I just started middle school. It was lunch time, and I heard this boy talking about my family. He was saying how poor we were, and that we were dirtier than trash. I confronted the boy, but he said all those things to my face. I cried because I was so upset, and he started teasing me about crying. I couldn't take it so I punched him in the face."

"It was a Muhammud Ali punch," Kobe added, remembering when this had happened since he was still a member of the Lakers organization. "The boy had to get surgery to fix his nose."

"What happened after?" T-Dog asked.

"My mother came to school, and the boy's mother came to school, too. We were all in the principal's office, and..."

_Cindy knew. She wasn't a child anymore, even though she was only 11. She knew the principal had to take the boy's side because his parents donated thousands of dollars a year to the school while Cindy was only there because of her outstanding academics. The boy's mother was yelling at the principal, shouting that something needed to be done. "Expel that child!" the mother ordered the principal._

_"You can't expel me!" Cindy shouted angrily, defending herself. "I'm the smartest student in the entire school!"_

_"Pah! A little 6th grader who JUST started middle school?"_

_"Yes, in fact, she is one of the smartest students at this school," the principal sighed, knowing that Cindy needed to stay in school because she was part of the debate club. "But I am afraid that you must pay for your misdeeds, Miss Bourne."_

_"I promise you, this will never happen again," Cindy's mother pleaded. "I'll pay for the damages, but please just let Cindy stay in school."_

"And my mom talked things through with the principal. We just acted as if nothing had happened," Cindy shrugged off. The next story-teller was Rick, and Cindy just stared into the fire watching it dwindle with time.

It was getting a little late, and everyone agreed to call it a night. Before Cindy could've headed into the Grimes' tent to sleep, she felt a strong hand grab a hold of hers. She turned back to see Shane there. He quietly led her away from the tent so that they could talk without being heard by anyone else. "Did you think about my offer?" he asked.

"I did. And my answer is no."

"Why not?"

"I can't go anywhere until we find Sophia. Carol blames me, and I don't blame her for blaming me."

"But it's not your-"

"I know it's not my fault, but I can't help it. I'm staying. And I hope you do, too."

"Would you want me to stay?" Cindy eyed Shane, and she could see he wanted a genuine answer from her.

"Yes. Do you feel like you're not wanted here?" Shane didn't answer. "Hey, if anything I should be feeling like that. Ever since I joined your group, I've caused nothing but trouble."

"And what makes you think that?"

"The first night I got to your camp, walkers attacked. Then the CDC thing, and now this thing."

"First of all, even if you were there or not the walkers would've attacked our camp. And if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have gotten that rest we got from that night in the CDC when you noticed the camera moving. And this thing, it makes me feel reassured."

"Makes you feel reassured? How?"

"You found those swords, and it lifts a worry off Kobe's shoulder." Cindy looked at Shane. "He doesn't have to worry about you being without protection." Cindy got the insinuation. She knew that Shane also felt relieved that she had found the katanas.

"You don't need to worry about me, Shane." Cindy went on her tip-toes and kissed Shane gently on his lips. When she leaned away, he quickly pulled Cindy in for a deeper kiss. Shane wrapped his arms around Cindy's waist and she wrapped her arms around Shane's broad and muscular shoulders. Cindy felt Shane's tongue at her lips, and she was glad that Kobe wasn't here to interrupt. She parted her lips and played with Shane's tongue with her own tongue.

Cindy held onto Shane as she felt excitement raging through her body from her head to her toes. She felt a poke on her upper thigh, and she let out a gasp. Shane held onto Cindy tighter and slowly let go of the kiss, breathing unevenly. He held Cindy's hand and led her towards his tent. Kobe was sleeping in the RV, so Cindy was glad she could get some privacy. Cindy eyed the Grimes' tent, which was placed not too far away from Shane's.

The two entered Shane's tent and she sat down. Shane slipped his shirt off quickly and kicked off his boots. Cindy felt hot. She had never slept with a man she barely knew. She always had sex when she was in a monogamous relationship. But Cindy knew times had changed drastically. Coming across these moments could be rare, and Cindy didn't want to let this opportunity go. Shane could see worry in Cindy's face, and he sat down next to her. He kissed her gently and whispered, "It'll be alright."

Shane had his palm on one of Cindy's cheeks and looked into her eyes. She looked up into his and felt so safe. His broad shoulders, his toned body just made Cindy feel safe physically. She leaned forward and kissed Shane. He leaned Cindy down gently, slowly taking off her shirt for her. He then worked his hands on Cindy's pants, slipping them off just as easily as her shirt.

Shane's cargo pants felt tight on him as he looked at Cindy lying down with just her bra and underwear on. He couldn't take his eyes off of Cindy's body. He sat there, staring at her and Cindy saw this. She blushed and Shane grinned. Cindy bit her lip shyly. It was the first time she saw Shane grinning. She quickly sat up and leaned Shane down so that she could be on top. She kissed Shane as she undid his pants. Cindy flung Shane's pants away and pulled down his briefs. Cindy gasped at how big Shane was. She felt both overwhelmed and excited.

Still on top, Cindy slipped out of her underwear and leaned down to kiss Shane again. Shane gave a light gasp when he felt Cindy's fingers wrap around his wood. Cindy and Shane gave uncontrollable moans when she slipped down to cover his tip inside her. Shane's fingers curled into Cindy's outer thighs as she slipped further down, and he let out a louder moan when his length was fully covered in Cindy's walls.

Cindy could feel Shane throbbing inside of her, and it felt amazing. She swayed her hips gently in a circular motion. "Jesus Christ," Shane moaned as he bucked his hip up. Cindy gasped and worked a little faster. Cindy tilted her head back and her open mouth was letting out gasps and moans as Shane bucked his hips continuously as she swirled her hips.

Cindy and Shane were sweating and panting. Shane sat up with Cindy still on top. He put one hand on Cindy's stomach and the other on her back, making her lean back. Cindy leaned back with her two hands on the floor, her front fully exposed to Shane. Shane spread Cindy's legs further, looking at his wood hidden from sight inside Cindy. He then put his hands around Cindy's waist, pumping her in and out slowly at first.

Cindy kept her balance as Shane moved her up and down, the sound of flesh slamming into one another getting wetter and wetter. "Oh fuck!" Cindy exclaimed as Shane pumped her in and out faster. Cindy felt that familiar rush through her lower stomach. Cindy's toes curled, her head cocked back, and her walls clamped down hard on Shane's thick wood. Shane moaned feeling Cindy's hot and tight walls clamped around his wood, and he watched her calming down from her orgasm.

Shane leaned Cindy down carefully so that he was still inside of her. He felt Cindy wrap her legs around his sides, and he gave a hard thrust. She moaned loudly when he did that, and it sounded angelic. He needed to hear it again, and he did when he gave another trust. Shane was moaning and groaning loudly as he continuously thrust inside of Cindy, feeling the climax reaching too quickly for his own good. Shane groaned that he was coming too fast, and Cindy quickly pushed Shane out of her. She grabbed his wood and gave him a hard hand-job. Shane fell weak when he climaxed. Cindy pumped Shane dry and tried to get all his cum on her stomach. The two were breathless and Shane saw his cum spilling down from Cindy's stomach. He grabbed a towel and wiped her stomach.

Cindy reached over and pulled her shirt over her head. "Where you goin'?" he asked.

"To Lori's tent. Mina's still there."

"Just stay tonight."

"Maybe another night," Cindy smiled. She pulled her pants on and kissed Shane sweetly. "I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded and watched Cindy walk out of his tent.


	8. Chapter 8

"Mom, I think Shane's mad at me," Carl confessed to his mother. "He doesn't want to talk to me anymore."

"No, honey, I promise you," Lori told Carl and kissed her son on the forehead. "He's just...worried about Sophia, that's all." Lori glanced over to where Shane was near the RV, and he was making plans with Rick, Daryl, and Cindy. It had been a few days since Sophia went missing, and all efforts to find her were fruitless.

"We've already searched the stream from top to bottom. She's nowhere near there," Daryl stated looking at the map.

"We haven't searched the bottom of this hill area right here," Rick said pointing to the map. "We can split up searches around that area, circle 'round and meet up right here. If we still don't find her, we'll go through this path and head back towards camp. Sounds good?" Everyone nodded, and Rick and Daryl walked away first.

"You don't look too good," Shane told Cindy. "You feelin' sick?"

"It's just the sniffles. It's nothing serious," she brushed off.

"You should stay in today, get some rest."

"I'm fine, really," she answered as she walked off towards the woods.

"Hey!" Shane grabbed her hand and spun her around quietly so no one could notice. "You're not okay to go out there today," he whispered. "You're just gonna make all of us worry." Cindy was quiet. "Just get some rest for today." Cindy nodded and Shane gave her a quick peck, eyeing to make sure no one saw. He walked off towards the search party as Cindy stayed behind with Dale, T-Dog, and Mina.

Cindy was carrying Mina on her back, her two katanas buckled around her belt for easy access. "When are we going back home, Cindy?" Mina asked.

"Soon, darling, soon. But we need to find Sophia first."

"You're planning to go back home?" Dale asked hearing Mina and Cindy's conversation.

"Oh, yes," Cindy answered quietly as if embarrassed that she was planning to leave. "My family is in California."

"You know, I just realised this but we don't know anything about you, Kobe, and Mina. You sure are awfully secretive even when we've been traveling together for some time." Cindy just answered with a weak smile. "Does it hurt to talk about the past?"

"Jenny," Mina stated. Cindy ignored Mina, but Dale knew that name meant something to her.

"Jenny? Who's Jenny?" Dale asked Mina like a grandfather hanging out with his granddaughter.

"Jenny is our sister. She didn't come with us. She's gone." Dale didn't know what to say. Cindy walked off to where T-Dog was and saw blood peering through his gauze bandage.

"Your wound is getting worse. Let me take a look at it." T-Dog didn't move, so Cindy unwrapped the bandage. Cindy gasped, seeing it getting much worse. Dale came over and took a look. He said that T-Dog was getting a blood infection, and T-Dog laughed.

"Wouldn't that be the way. World's gone to hell, dead people risen up to eat the living. And Theodore Douglas gets done in by a cut on his arm."

"Wanna know something funnier?" Cindy asked. "You already signing yourself off." T-Dog looked at Cindy angrily, and she returned his look with a sarcastic tone in her smile. Dale quickly insisted that they needed to look for antibiotics.

As Dale and Cindy helped search for antibiotics, he asked, "What happened to Jenny?"

"Please drop it, Dale."

"You won't feel any better not talking about it. You can't just bottle up your emotions. We've all lost loved ones. It only helps to talk about it."

"Dale...please, I don't want to talk about it." They heard a woman's scream from the forest, and they bolted up looking into the forest. All the two could do was wait for the group to come back, hoping that scream wasn't from anyone they knew. The group came back without Rick, Shane, and Lori.

The group told Dale, T-Dog, and Cindy that Carl was shot in the forest. He was taken to a small farm for medical treatment. "T-Dog, you should go there, too," Cindy suggested. "His wound is getting worse and we don't have antibiotics to help him." When Daryl heard this, he took a stash of drugs out of his brother's bag.

"Why'd you wait 'til now to say anything?" Daryl asked, tossing T-Dog a bottle of antibiotics.

"What'll we do about Sophia?" Glenn asked.

"We can put up a sign for her," Andrea suggested.

"I'll wait here," Cindy offered.

"No, we should all head to the farm," Kobe added. "We need to support Rick and Lori. Besides, the sign will work. If Sophia does find this snarl again, then she can wait for us here." Everyone agreed, and Cindy was annoyed with Kobe. They made a sign that told Sophia to wait in the truck.

All the motor vehicles were moved and followed the pathway towards the farm. Cindy gasped seeing the little farm surrounded by the open grass field. It looked so humble and peaceful. All the cars parked away from the farm, and everyone hopped out to head towards the farm.

Cindy let Mina down, and she ran happily towards the farm. Cindy, Kobe, Glenn, and Dale approached the farmhouse and they all stood in front of the door. "Do we knock?" Glenn asked.

"What else would you do in front of a stranger's door?" Cindy asked. She knocked on it first, and an old man with white hair came out. He looked tired as hell, and Cindy assumed this was the man taking care of Carl's injury. Cindy quickly introduced herself and the group, and the man introduced himself as Herschel. He let the group in, and they saw Rick and Lori by Carl's bedside.

Cindy's heart dropped seeing Carl that she had to leave the room immediately. She stepped outside and puked on the grass. She heard the door close behind her, and Kobe stood by her side. He patted her back, and she pushed him away. "What the hell is your problem, Cindy?" Kobe asked angrily. He was tired of how she was treating him the past few days.

"You have been consistently a problem for me, that's what my problem is with you," Cindy stated back angrily.

"What the hell do you mean?"

"I just...I just want to fucking find Sophia and leave. All we need to do is find that little girl, then we can go back home. But we haven't found her! We haven't, and...and I don't think we will."

"You were the one who said you needed to find her."

"I know. I do need to find her...but we need to be realistic...a little girl in a world full of walkers, surviving in the woods for 5 days?"

"You're already writing her off?" he asked angrily.

"...yes." Kobe looked at Cindy and saw how weary she was from everything.

"You can't take this personally."

"It's easy for you to say," Cindy sighed. "I just...I really wanna go back home, Kobe." Kobe was quiet. He knew if he suggested that they just leave, Cindy would disagree because Sophia hadn't been found. But if he said that this is what Cindy wanted since the beginning, that would only piss off Cindy again. "I miss Jenny."

Kobe was stunned. It had been so long since they mentioned anything about Jenny. Just the mentioning of Jenny's name made Kobe weak in the knees. Cindy burst into tears and held Kobe tightly, and he comforted her. "I should've done it," Kobe sighed. "I should've done it, not you. How could I have been so selfish, asking you to do that to Jenny? I should've known better..."

Kobe and Cindy sat there on the porch, holding one another as Cindy tried calming down from her sobbing. They heard footsteps from behind and they saw a tall girl with short brown hair. She brought out two glasses of water and handed it to the two. Kobe and Cindy thanked the girl, and she nodded. "I...I didn't mean to overhear, but I've learned that taking losses personally won't do you no good." Kobe and Cindy looked up at the kind girl. "I...I know you people have lost many loved ones...I just...wish you all better." The girl put her head down and went back into the farm.

Night was falling, and Cindy was still thinking about her sister. She was just sitting on the rooftop of the RV, looking out in the forest waiting for Shane to come back with Otis, the man who accidentally shot Carl while deer-hunting. "Hi, little sister." Cindy slowly looked to her left and her mouth dropped seeing Jenny sitting right beside her. Jenny smiled at her sister. "What's been bothering you, Cindy?"

"I'm...blaming myself for something I didn't do."

"What do you mean?"

"Sophia. I know I didn't do anything to lose her, but...I ran into the woods when Sophia was being chased by the walker."

"But you went to look for Mina, didn't you?"

"Yes, but that's the problem. Carol expected me to look for Sophia, too."

"So you're letting someone's expectations pull you down?"

"I..." Cindy was quiet. She had been torturing herself for days because of her mind. But who was really blaming Cindy but Carol? Not only was she blaming Cindy, she was also blaming Rick for Sophia's disappearance.

"You're weaker than I thought, little sister," Jenny scoffed to get Cindy's blood pumping.

"I'm not weak."

"Then you were fooled."

"How was I fooled?" Cindy asked getting angry.

"You were fooled into thinking this was your fault. Carol fooled you into making you believe this was your fault. She fooled you into believing that this burden belongs to you. You were gullible enough to believe that this was your fault? Did you learn nothing from me and Philip when you were growing up? I thought we taught you better than that-"

"Shut up!" Cindy punched the air and she jumped from fright, seeing Jenny gone.

"What's going on up there?" Dale asked coming out of the RV and looking up at Cindy. "Were you talking to someone, Cindy?" Before Cindy could've answered, she saw two lights peering through the forest and she squinted.

"Shane's back!" Cindy exclaimed and quickly jumped off the RV roof. She waited until the car parked near the farm and out stepped Shane, dirtied and different. He saw Cindy standing right there, and he turned his back to her to get the medical supplies in the bag. He walked past Cindy and entered the farm with the medical supplies. Cindy followed Shane into the farm and heard him saying that Otis didn't make it. He said that they were swarmed and Otis didn't make it.

Herschel demanded that no one tell Patricia, Otis' girlfriend, about his fate till after the surgery. Maggie started sobbing, and Rick embraced Shane for bringing back the equipment. Cindy watched Shane step out of the room, and she followed him. She saw Maggie handing Shane a pair of Otis' overalls for new clothes. Shane didn't say anything and Maggie showed him the shower.

Cindy was getting frustrated, and she followed Shane into the bathroom. She locked the bathroom door and saw Shane looking at himself in the mirror. Cindy noticed a bald spot in Shane's head, and she went on her tip-toes to get a better look at it. Shane pushed her away, and Cindy eyed Shane, sensing him acting way too differently. She could see apologies written all over Shane's face after he had pushed her away, and she quickly embraced him warmly.

Shane dug his face into Cindy's shoulder as she held him tightly. She felt Shane shaking in her arms, and she didn't want to bother him with her questions. "You should take a hot shower. I'll wait for you," she whispered. She took a step towards the door, but Shane held onto Cindy tighter.

"Don't leave." Cindy was quiet and she turned on the hot water. She saw Shane still standing there like a ghost, and she took his shirt and pants off. She then undressed herself, and she led Shane into the shower. They stood there with the hot water warming up the bathroom. Cindy noticed scratches on Shane's wrist, and she lifted his wrist to her lips. She kissed every scratch mark on his arms and all the scratch marks on his chest. Shane was still like a statue, and Cindy knew something was terribly wrong. She had never seen Shane so shooken up before.

Cindy washed off the dirt on Shane's body and her own as Shane was useless in doing anything. She dried Shane off and herself, and she was glad to see Shane dressing himself on his own. "I thought I'd have to do that for you, too," Cindy stated humorously. Shane didn't answer as he looked at himself in the mirror again. He ran his finger through his hair, and he found a razor.

Cindy took the razor from Shane and made him face her. "Just your hair?" she asked. He nodded, and Cindy shaved off the hair from Shane's head completely, making him look like a jar-head. When she brushed off the last piece of hair from behind his ear, Shane cupped one hand on Cindy's cheek. He examined her, seeing how radiant she was now that she was squeaky clean from the shower.

He felt his cold body finally starting to warm up looking at this beautiful girl. His eyes went from her eyes, to her nose, to her cheeks, to her lips and jawline, back up to her eyes. Shane got lost in Cindy's eyes, and she kissed him gently on his lips. She put her hand on Shane's chest, giving him a sense of reassurance.

Cindy approached the farm once again from the RV, wanting to make sure Lori and Rick were alright. She went to Carl's room and saw Rick there. She knocked on the wall and Rick turned around. "Hey," Cindy lightly stated. He nodded and looked back at his son recovering from the successful surgery. "I'm glad he's recovering."

"Still no sign of Sophia?"

"No." Cindy wanted to be honest with Rick. She wanted to tell him that she was losing hope of finding Sophia, but she didn't want to show signs of weakness since she knew she was one of the main vocals in the group. "They're holding a funeral for Otis tomorrow, and we'll resume looking. You should stay by your son's side."

"I'll help out tomorrow-"

"No. Your son needs you. You don't need to feel obligated to look for Sophia anymore than I do, Rick." Rick looked at Cindy. This was just their second personal conversation, and once again it was an awkward subject for him to discuss with a young lady. "I don't know about you...but the past few days, I've been beating myself up about Sophia. I kept blaming myself that Sophia was gone because of me. I thought, if only I had remembered to bring Sophia back. But all I could honestly think about was bringing Mina back."

"I shouldn't have made her stay there. I should've known she was terrified-"

"You did what you thought was best for the both of you. Rick...I'm slowly trying to stop blaming myself for this, and you should, too. This isn't your fault nor is it mine."

"I am responsible for that little girl."

"But your priority lies with your son." That statement caught Rick, and he nodded.

"You should take a rest tomorrow with me," Rick stated.

"No, I'll keep looking."

"Kobe's worried about you." Cindy looked at Rick. "He senses something different about you. And he's worried that it's not something good."

"I'm fine-"

"If I take a rest, then you need to take a rest, too. It'll be good for us mentally." Cindy nodded in agreement, and she left Rick to be alone.


	9. Chapter 9

Hershel led the funeral for Otis, piling his grave with big rocks that were found along the farm. Hershel asked Shane for some eulogy. Shane initially tried avoiding it, but Patricia begged for Shane to do it since he was the last person to see Otis. After everyone paid their respects to Otis, Maggie brought out a map of the county to help the group with their search for Sophia. Hershel suggested Shane and Rick stay behind since Shane's ankle was sprained and Rick gave blood to his son. "You need to stay behind, too," Rick spoke to Cindy before she could've snuck out with the search party.

Cindy pouted as if he spoiled her plans. Shane wanted to teach people how to shoot since they were now finally settled in one area. Hershel disapproved, however, of guns being carried around his farm. Rick agreed with Hershel, respecting his decision because it was his farm. Everyone handed their guns over, and Hershel looked at Cindy. "Just got these swords. Want 'em, too?" she asked. Hershel shook his head, saying it was fine.

Hershel and Rick came to an agreement that Dale would keep all the weapons in his RV. Rick then ordered Maggie and Glenn to head to town for some medical supplies since they were running low. As plans were set into motion, Cindy walked around the farm with Mina on her back. "Are we gonna live on the farm, Cindy?" Mina asked.

"Just for a while, darling. Until we can find Sophia."

"When will we find Sophia?"

"...I don't know, darling. I don't know."

"I know you'll find her, Cindy."

"And how do you know that, my love?" Cindy chuckled.

"Because you're my sister!" Cindy laughed and Mina giggled, resting her chin on Cindy's back. Near the RV, Shane was sitting at the picnic table cleaning all the guns. He glanced over to Cindy and Mina, watching the two sisters smiling and talking to each other.

Cindy noticed Daryl carrying his crossbow and heading in towards the forest. She shouted out his name and told Mina to go find Dale near the RV. Mina ran, and Cindy headed to Daryl's side. "Goin' in the forest by yourself?" she asked.

"Someone's gotta keep looking."

"You don't need to go alone."

"You ain't comin' with me. Rick told ya to stay."

"Just wait until tomorrow with the rest of us."

"Get a good day's rest, little girl," Daryl answered and slung the crossbow over his shoulder, turning around to walk back into the forest.

"You don't owe us anything," Cindy quickly shouted out.

"My other plans fell through," Daryl responded without turning around. Cindy turned around and saw Hershel speaking with Rick again. She headed over to Rick's side when Hershel was done talking.

"What'd you talk about?" Cindy asked.

"Hershel said we could camp near the farm."

"That's good news. But you don't look very good."

"...he doesn't want us to think we're here permanently. Once Carl gets better, he wants us off." Cindy looked at Rick and could see the concern in his face. They both thought the same thing about this farm: refuge. They wanted to live at the farm permanently because it was in the middle of nowhere, away from the cruel reality of the walking dead roaming the earth. Besides, they had family members to think about, and it would've been easier to just settle for once.

"We have time." Rick looked at Cindy. "We have time to change his mind." Rick was quiet. "C'mon, you weren't thinking about just complying with Hershel, did you? You're a police officer for god's sake." Rick was still quiet. "Just leave the negotiating to me. I can do it. But I'm gonna need time."

"Thank you," Rick nodded, knowing that Cindy knew why he was so worried in the first place.

"Don't thank me just yet." Cindy smiled and sat in the middle of the field among the tall grass. She could barely be seen through the tall grass. She heard the wind blowing and the chatter of a few people.

"You think you can do it, little sister?" Cindy looked to her left and saw Jenny sitting by her side. "You really think you can convince Hershel to let you all stay permanently?"

"Of course. I convinced dad to let me go to New York, didn't I? And don't forget that I was the one who convinced mom to travel more with dad. You know how scared she was of planes." The two sisters shared a nostalgic laugh. "I miss you, Jenny."

"I know you do, little sister. But keep being strong. Mina's growing big and healthy following in your footsteps. Continue helping her."

"I am, I am. I just wish you were here with me. Mina asks about you...and sometimes, I don't feel as strong as I should."

"Everyone has their doubts once in a while, Cindy. It's normal for humans. The difference between them and you is that you don't ever show weakness. Don't ever show your doubts, especially since you're one of the leaders in the group."

"I won't. I'm going to bring Mina back home with Kobe," Cindy nodded.

"I know you will, little sister. Remember who you are, Cindy. Remember who you are."

"Cindy!" T-Dog spotted Cindy sitting on the grass and called her name. Cindy stood up as T-Dog walked towards her. "I...I just wanted to ask you to forget about what I said at the highway the day before. I'm not weak, and I'm not a coward. I don't know what that was or where it came from. But that wasn't me."

"We all have our moments of weakness," Cindy nodded with a reassuring smile. T-Dog nodded and then told her that Dale needs help pumping water from the well. T-Dog and Cindy walked over to where Dale was. He and T-Dog pumped while Cindy caught the water in a bucket. Cindy noticed a hole in the planks covering the well, and the planking looked a little bit too new compared to the rest of the well. Cindy's curiosity kicked in, and she moved the planking aside. Her mouth dropped when she saw a growling walker in the well. She was disgusted because she had never seen a walker bloated from the water, and she was glad she never had. "Alright, fresh water," T-Dog laughed.

"No!" Cindy shouted and slapped the water out of T-Dog's hands. She kicked the bucket and spilled the water to the grass. T-Dog and Dale peered into the well, and they had the same expression Cindy had. They both went to get the group while Cindy examined the walker from above.

Glenn, Maggie, Andrea, Lori, Shane, and Kobe gathered around the well. They peered down to the bloated zombie and they all reacted. "It's grown gills," Cindy stated to the group. "We need to get it out somehow."

"Let's just shoot it," Andrea groaned.

"That'll contaminate the well," Kobe spoke. "The only way to get that thing out is to pull it out."

"And how are we gonna do that exactly?" Glenn asked, still disgusted by the sight of the walker.

"Easy! Just like fishing," Cindy smiled. Dale got a fishing hook from his RV and Cindy attached a piece of ham onto it from Hershel's kitchen. She lowered the ham to the well, but the walker just couldn't climb it out.

"Fail," Kobe lightheartedly stated as a joke. Cindy glared at him and he just smiled back.

"There's a reason why the dead didn't come back and start raiding our cupboards," Lori mused. Cindy chortled and a smile crossed over Shane's lips.

"Alright, the ham idea is obviously not working," Kobe stated and Cindy groaned, agreeing. "We probably need to get someone down there to fetch it out."

"And just how the hell are we gonna do that?" Cindy asked.

"We could bring someone down on a rope and tie the walker with the rope to pull it out," Shane suggested. "Any volunteers?" No one raised their hand, but everyone's eyes went to Glenn and Cindy, the smallest people in the group.

"They're looking at us," Cindy whispered to Glenn. "Stare right back. Don't falter your gaze."

"I'll do it," Glenn sighed. Cindy looked at Glenn, surprised that he complied so easily with the group's stares. A rope was strapped around Glenn as the group carefully pulled him down the well. The group used the water pump as leverage for the rope, but they miscalculated how strong the water pump was. Glenn's weight broke the water pump and he fell reaching distance of the walker. "Get me the hell outta here!" Glenn shouted at the top of his lungs.

The group quickly pulled Glenn out and they were disappointed that it was another failed attempt. "Hey, what's with the long faces?" he asked with a grin. The group glanced down the well to see the rope fastened around the walker.

"Now comes the harder part," Shane stated as he grabbed onto the rope that was attached to the walker. Everyone did so as well and pulled as hard as they could. They saw the walker's arms out first, and half its body got out of the well. But the walker couldn't seem to get out any further. It was stuck, and the group pulled so hard that the walker's body split in half.

The group fell back from the momentum and they could hear the water splashing below them. Cindy and Lori puked at the sight of half the walker's body hanging out at the edge of the well, it still growling. T-Dog pickaxed the walker in the head out of frustration, and the group decided to seal off the well.

* * *

"Come with me, baby girl," Shane said to Cindy when the two were alone by the RV.

"Where we goin'?"

"Imma teach you how to shoot. C'mon." Shane led Cindy into the forest, trying to look for a place to practice shooting.

"But I already know how to shoot," Cindy refuted walking next to Shane.

"Not walking targets. It's a whole 'nother story between a still and walking target."

"Why?"

"Because a walking target is alive, and people have emotions for live things."

"What do you have to do?"

"Turn off a switch. The one that makes you scared. Odds are there's always somebody else counting on you. There's nothin' easy about taking a man's life, but when you get it done, you have to forget it."

"Have you killed a man before?" Shane was quiet. "Well, you were a cop." Shane was thinking about Otis, but Cindy assumed it was from before the zombie apocalypse happened. "Shane?" He stopped walking and turned back to Cindy. "Is everything alright? You're acting a bit different ever since we got to the farm." Shane shook his head. Cindy saw him opening his mouth to say something, but he looked as if he didn't know what to say.

She walked to Shane and kissed him lightly on his lips, her hand around his shoulder. "I'm gonna try convincing Hershel to let us stay permanently. We'll finally be able to settle down. Then when the group's settled in, we can leave to California." Shane had a look that was surprised that Cindy still wanted to leave with him, and he nodded. She kissed him again, and the two walked back to the farm.

Cindy spotted Rick and he looked very upset. He told Cindy Hershel expected the group to leave once Carl recovered. Cindy couldn't have that happen, so she pulled Rick onto his feet. She led him to the house and knocked on the door. Patricia opened it, and Cindy asked for Hershel. Patricia led the two to Hershel, where he was in his studies reading the Bible. "Hershel, I come here respectfully to ask you to reconsider sending us off," Cindy stated as if it were her opening statement. "We still need to find Carol's daughter, and we know she must be around this area."

"I have been kind enough to let you folks stay until that little boy's wounds heal. I'm not obliged to do anything further," Hershel spoke not taking his eyes off the Bible.

"And you would be gracious if you could just give us more time. Please, Rick and I...we must find Sophia." Hershel looked up to Cindy. "You see...when Sophia ran into the woods, Rick and I went in after her. But we lost her."

"And the mother blames you two?"

"It doesn't matter if she does or not anymore. It's still our responsibility to bring her daughter back."

"And why is it your responsibility?"

"Because a leader takes care of their group. Once one member is gone, chaos ensues in the group. We need everyone in tact to continue moving on." Hershel looked from Cindy to Rick, back to Cindy.

"Alright. I'll let you stay until the little girl is found only if you respect my rules about your weapons."

"Agreed," Cindy nodded. She thanked Hershel and left the house with Rick. "See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?"

"You got a special talent, kid," Rick stated for the first time in a lighthearted manner. He was so thankful that Hershel let the group stay until Sophia was found, and he was thankful to Cindy for that.

"I told you I'm good at these things," she smiled. "Rick, I'm on your side. You can ask me for help if you need it. You don't need to do any of this alone."

"Lori told me you were gonna leave to California." Cindy looked at Rick quietly. "I'm thankful you didn't."

"Cindy!" Mina squealed seeing her sister finally coming back after a long day. Cindy picked up Mina in her arms and the little baby said, "Look at the stars, Cindy! They're so bright!"

"It's a lovely bella notte, isn't it?" Cindy asked with a smile. Cindy quietly walked away while singing a lovely song to Mina, still a distance close enough for Rick to hear.

_Oh, this is the night. It's a beautiful night, and they call it Bella Notte. Look at the skies. They have stars in their eyes on this lovely Bella Notte. Side by side with your loved one, you'll find enchantment here. The night will weave its magic spell when the one you love is near. Oh, this is the night, and the heavens are bright on this lovely Bella Notte._


	10. Chapter 10

Rick, Shane, Daryl, Andrea, T-Dog, Kobe, and Cindy prepared a search grid on the map Maggie gave them. Jimmy, Beth Greene's (Hershel's daughter) boyfriend, offered to help because he knew the area very well. "Did Hershel say it was alright?" Rick asked. Jimmy said it was okay with Hershel. Rick glanced over to Cindy, and she shrugged indicating that it was alright with her.

Jimmy didn't own a gun, and so Andrea and T-Dog offered to take Jimmy with them. Daryl planned to go on horseback alone, saying that he could spot her better from the ridge. "Yeah, ya might see your chupacabra better, too," T-Dog snorted at Daryl.

"You saw a cupacabra before?" Cindy asked with her eyebrow raised at Daryl.

"You believe in a blood-sucking dog?" Rick asked in disbelief.

"Do you believe in dead people walking around?" Daryl shot back. Cindy gave a "he-told-you" look and put her hand out so he could high-five her but he just walked past her.

"Ooh, shot down," Kobe snorted.

"Shut up," she pouted. Cindy and Kobe walked through the woods together to look for Sophia. Cindy glanced at Kobe and saw he looked worried. "What's wrong?"

"...I had this...dream. Or nightmare."

"What was it?" Kobe was quiet. Cindy stopped walking and so did he. "What was your dream?"

"...the group, we were travelling. But you weren't there with us. And Mina kept asking me where you were. In my head, I knew you were dead."

"It's just a dream."

"I know, but it's still getting to me. I mean, we're wasting our time looking for Sophia. It's been over a week and we still haven't found her. The group is being dragged down, Cindy, and you know it. You just don't wanna call off the search because you feel responsible for Sophia's disappearance."

"You would, too, if you made it seem like you were running after Sophia."

"No, I wouldn't. I'd tell Carol to take care of her own fucking daughter and not to place the blame on me."

"Tch, you sound just like Jenny."

"What?"

"...I...I saw Jenny. It wasn't a dream, more like a hallucination. She told me I was weak. She was disappointed in me because of how weak I was. She said to me, 'Is this how Philip and I raised you?' I tried everything, Kobe. I tried to not take responsibility for Sophia disappearing, I tried to show Jenny how wrong she was, I tried to prove to the group I was a leader. I...I don't really know where to go from here now."

"What do you want to do?"

"...I don't wanna look anymore. I still take responsibility, but you're right. She's dragging us down as a group. We need to focus on Hershel letting us stay permanently, but he said he'd let us stay until Sophia is found."

"So what? We'd have to pretend everyday to keep looking for Sophia? That's not realistic."

"I know it's not, but that's all we can do right now. We have to take one step at a time."

"And what about us going back home? Did you forget about that, too?" Kobe asked getting frustrated with Cindy wanting to keep wasting everyone's time.

"I'm not gonna do things that'll put us at a higher risk."

"We're gonna be in a car, we have guns, and we have food. What the hell is keeping you from going back home, Cindy? Mina would be safer with the rest of your family there to look after her." Cindy was quiet. "You're scared. You're scared, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm petrified, okay?" Cindy growled as a tear strolled down. She felt her heart bleeding from the pain of admitting how afraid she was. "I can't make a decision that'll put us at risk. I...I can't see that happen to Mina. What happened to Jenny, I can't see that happen to Mina or else there's nothing to live for."

"Cindy..."

"If I lose Mina, then that's it for me. I need to keep her safe."

"You wouldn't off yourself if that happened to Mina," Kobe stated almost as if asking Cindy. Cindy didn't answer.

"I keep seeing Jenny. She talks to me. She talks to me about things that are on my mind. I know she's not real, but it feels like she's really there. She says things she would say if she were here. She's...she's haunting me." The two heard a rustle in the bushes, and Cindy quickly drew out her two katanas while Kobe held onto his gun.

Cindy squinted her eyes, and saw two yellow animal eyes looking right at her through the bushes. She heard the rustle again from the animal, and she saw an abnormally large wolf silently appear with fur as white as snow. The wolf wasn't abnormally large in a diseased way. It just looked like a much more powerful alpha wolf than normal wolves. It was more than half the height of Cindy. Cindy held her breath as she didn't take her eyes off the wolf.

The wolf took a step forward to Cindy, its eyes still locked on Cindy. She held her hand out, and Kobe hissed, "What are you doing? Get back from it." Cindy didn't listen. Her hand was out, and the wolf sniffed her hand.

"Where'd you come from, wolf?" Cindy asked quietly to the wolf as it examined Cindy. "Kinda like a ghost, huh?"

"As quiet as one, that's for sure," Kobe answered with his breath held, watching the wolf circle around Cindy. "Cindy, let's head back to camp." Cindy nodded and walked back to Kobe. She looked behind to see the wolf just looking at her as if it were wondering where she was going. Cindy smiled and walked away with Kobe. The wolf followed from behind and Cindy pointed it out to Kobe. He tried shooing the wolf away, but it didn't budge. The two continued walking back to camp and the wolf followed all the way back.

Mina spotted Kobe and Cindy coming back, and she shouted their names excitedly. Cindy held Mina in her arms and showed her to the large wolf. "It's so pretty," Mina gasped, putting her hand out. Cindy cautiously stepped forward to the wolf with Mina in her arms, and the wolf sniffed Mina's baby hand. It licked her hand and Mina giggled, saying it was tickling her.

"Do you wanna give it a name, sweetheart?"

"Mmm...what do you want, Cindy?"

"Well, I was thinking about Ghost. How about that?"

"Ghost!" Mina exclaimed happily. The wolf perked its ears as if its name really was Ghost, and it sat down looking right at Mina as if waiting for a command.

"Whoa, what the!" T-Dog shouted seeing the large wolf. "Please don't tell me that's the chupacabra." Cindy laughed and explained that the wolf followed her and Kobe out of the forest.

"Look, there's a walker!" Andrea shouted from the top of the RV. She put the gun back to her shoulder but Rick ordered her to put the gun down, remembering Hershel's rule.

"You best let us handle this," Shane told Andrea as he stepped forward with Rick towards where the walker was headed. Rick told the group that Hershel wanted to deal with the walkers on his land, but it was too late. Shane, T-Dog, and Glenn were running towards the walker with weapons. Rick ran after the 3 men, and they all saw that it was Daryl covered in dirt and blood.

"Andrea, please put the gun down," Dale begged. "They said they've got it covered."

"Back off, Dale. I can do this," Andrea tersely stated, keeping the lock on the walker.

"Andrea, you should just put the gun down," Cindy stated seeing that the 4 men were standing around the walker. It obviously wasn't a walker because the 4 men were conversing with it now. "Andrea, I think it's Daryl. I think it's Daryl, put the gun down." Andrea took her shot and the bullet graze Daryl's head.

Rick screamed in horror and Cindy gasped, her hand to her mouth. Cindy, Dale, and Andrea ran towards the men in the field, and they were all carrying Daryl who had passed out. "Look," T-Dog stated seeing Sophia's doll among things that Daryl was carrying, including an ear made of walker ears.

"Let's keep that one to ourselves," Cindy quickly stated and ripped off the ear necklace, stuffing them into her pocket. Hershel looked upon the group dragging Daryl into the house to get help for his wounds. Rick was holding Sophia's doll, standing on the porch. Cindy looked at the doll and put her hand on Rick's shoulder.

"Oh god, is he okay?" Andrea asked as she approached the porch steps to where Rick and Cindy were.

"Hershel is tending to his wounds," Cindy stated angrily. "I told you to not fire, Andrea. Why did you shoot?"

"I don't take orders from little girls," Andrea growled defensively.

"There's a reason why I said to not shoot, Andrea. This isn't about being a hard-ass. There are more problems in the world than you not being able to hold your father's gun and not knowing how to shoot. But you wouldn't know because all you care about is yourself."

"Look who's talking about not being a hard-ass. You try to be the leader of the group, but no one listens to you because you don't command respect. You're just a little girl thinking you're hard because you know how to talk." Before Cindy could've argued back, Ghost growled loudly and they all looked to see the large white wolf glaring right at Andrea. Andrea took a step back from horror, and so did Rick and Dale.

"Ghost, calm down," Cindy said taking a step forward past the 3. She put her hand out calmly and the wolf lessened its growl, but its gaze was still on Andrea.

"What the hell is that?" Andrea asked pale.

"It followed me out of the forest," Cindy answered standing by Ghost's side. Carol was walking back towards the house with a bucket full of fish she had just caught at a nearby stream. She noticed the wolf and yelped from fright, dropping the bucket of fish to the floor. She couldn't believe how big the wolf was. Cindy ran to Carol's side and helped put the fish back into the bucket. "Want me to carry it in?"

Carol just nodded her head, refusing to talk with Cindy still. Cindy grunted in her mind and walked into the house with the fish. She saw Lori in the kitchen, cooking dinner. "Oh, you two were cooking dinner? Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped."

"You were off looking for Sophia. Besides, we got it covered," Lori smiled weakly.

"Yeah, but I'm actually a chef. I could've helped with something."

"You're a chef? How come you never told us that before?"

"Eh, never came up," Cindy shrugged. "I make bomb sashimis. Here, I'll take care of the seafood part." Cindy helped make the food and it was silent in the kitchen. It was very awkward and tense because Carol made it obvious she still hated Cindy for her daugher's disappearance. "Do you remember the scene in The Little Mermaid with the chef?" Cindy asked bringing up a conversation.

"Oh, the chef who cuts the fish's heads?" Lori asked with a grin, remembering that Disney movie.

"Yup!" Cindy smiled.

_Les poissons, les poissons, how I love les poissons. Love to chop and to serve little fish. First, I cut off their heads then I pull out their bones. Ah mais oui, savez toujours delice!_

_Les poissons, les poissons, hee hee hee haw haw haw. With a cleaver I hack them in two. I pull out what's inside and I serve it up fried. God, I love little fishes, don't you?_

_Here's something for tempting the palette, prepared in the classic technique. First, you pound the fish flat with a malette, then you slash off their skin. Give their belly a slice, then you rub some salt in 'cause it makes it taste nice._

Cindy was singing as she was cutting up the fish as sashimi, and Lori couldn't stop laughing at Cindy's impersonation. Carol didn't crack a smile and Cindy just whistled to herself, helping to finish the rest of the dinner. There were two tables, one for the adults and one for the children. Everyone ate silently, and it was a very awkward dinner. It was obvious that Glenn had passed on a note to Maggie, though he tried to cover it up from Hershel. "We got a James Bond over here," Cindy called out Glenn after Maggie got his note. Maggie and Glenn turned bright red, but neither lifted their heads.

"Anyone know how to play the guitar?" Glenn asked. "Dale found one back at the traffic snarl."

"Otis did," Patricia answered with a sniff. Cindy glanced over at Kobe and the two were thinking of the same exact thing: what a debbie-downer thing to say. They smirked silently and Cindy had to bite on her tongue to not laugh.

After a silent dinner, Cindy stayed behind to work on the dishes. She offered to do them because she wanted some alone time to think. Back home in California, Cindy would always do the dishes to have some time to think for herself. She hummed a familiar melody to herself, one that she always hummed when she was doing chores.

Cindy was so zoned out with her own singing and doing the dishes that she didn't hear Shane entering the kitchen. He smiled, listening to Cindy humming to herself and lost in her own thoughts. He walked behind Cindy and wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning his chin on her shoulder. Cindy jumped and pushed Shane away. "Jesus, you scared the hell outta me," Cindy complained, glaring at Shane.

"Hurry up, baby girl. I found this place in the woods that'll blow your mind away."

"Then help me, why dontcha?" Cindy passed Shane a dirty dish and he put it back in the sink.

"Men don't wash dishes," he stated wiping his hands on his cargo pants. He kissed Cindy on the cheek but she grabbed his arm, making him face her. He saw that she had a look of disbelief.

"Men don't wash dishes? You think you're gonna just come into this kitchen and tell ME to hurry up with the dishes so you can show me a good sex place?" Shane was caught off guard at Cindy's anger. He didn't know she'd be so angry about his comment. "You're used to girls being submissive to you, aren't you? You've never been with a girl like me, have you?" Cindy pinned Shane against the sink and leaned in to him. "Men will start washing dishes, or else women won't give 'em none of this." Cindy grabbed Shane's sack hard, massaging him seductively while looking into his eyes the entire time licking her lips.

She gave another squeeze and felt Shane's wood jerk. She gave him an air kiss and walked out of the kitchen, heading back out to camp. Cindy made sure Mina was asleep before she headed into Shane's tent. She waited for a few minutes when Shane entered his tent. "Done with all the dishes?" Cindy asked with a "did-you-learn-your-lesson?" look.

"And dried."

"Good. Now where is this place you wanted to fuck me so badly?" she asked with a seductive giggle.

"Follow me, baby girl," Shane grinned. He and Cindy cautiously walked into the forest without being seen by anyone. She had her katanas and Shane had his guns. He held her hand the entire time, leading her through the forest to the sound of a nearby waterfall. "Alright, here we are, doll." Shane cleared the opening and they were standing across a waterfall. Shane led Cindy towards the waterfall and there was a pathway towards the back. There was the opening of a cave, and Cindy gasped. It was the opening to a crystal cave, and she was mesmerized by the beauty of the cave. "Didn' I tell you it was somethin'?" he grinned and leaned in to suck on Cindy's neck.

Shane sucked hard and Cindy wrapped her arms around Shane's broad shoulders. "Oh, it's something, alright," Cindy moaned with a smirk. Shane threw his shirt off and slipped his pants down, while Cindy did the same to her clothes. Shane was about to take his briefs off but Cindy stopped him. She kissed him, sucking on his bottom lip. She pulled Shane down and laid him down on his back on top of their clothes.

Cindy gave Shane one last kiss on the lips before her lips explored south. Cindy looked up and saw Shane watching Cindy's every move, not wanting to take his eyes off the beautiful girl. She smiled and took hold of Shane's brief with her teeth. She stripped the briefs off of him with her teeth, and her eyes locked onto his thick wood.

Cindy kissed Shane's tip, and circled her tongue around it. Shane gave quick breaths, feeling his veins pulsing. He groaned loudly when Cindy took more of him in her mouth. With every groan Shane gave, Cindy gave an answering moan as she sucked hard on his member. Cindy could feel Shane jerking under her spell, and she slowly parted ways with his member. She went back up to his lips and he brought her head down, kissing her roughly. Shane put his arms behind Cindy's lower back, pushing her closer to him.

He kissed her roughly, and Cindy felt Shane's member rubbing against her thigh. Cindy was getting wetter, and she lifted her hips. She held Shane's member with her fingertips, and she put it to the opening of her core. She slid herself down onto Shane's member, and the two groaned loudly as she kept going in deeper.

Cindy couldn't go in any further and she started swaying her hips violently. Shane groaned loudly, swearing and swearing on this girl riding him like a rodeo bull. Shane bucked his hips up, feeling as if he was going to go crazy because of Cindy. His legs twitched continuously, and Cindy felt it. Shane groaned, and he had to pull out of Cindy. He took a 3-second breather, the coldness of the cave calming his excitement down.

Cindy saw this and smiled, seeing how Shane was being pleased. He then held Cindy's lower sides, bringing them close to him. He went on his knees as Cindy went on all 4's with her core exposed to Shane from the backside. Shane went in even deeper in this position, and Cindy groaned loudly. She bit her lip, but she couldn't stop being loud.

Shane felt even bigger and he went in much deeper in this position, and he was hitting her good spot. He thrust quickly, the sound of skin slapping echoing through the cave. Cindy yelled loudly with each thrust, and Shane went even faster. He growled loudly as he thrust hard, and he threw his head back as he felt the rush surging through. He shouted that he was coming, and Cindy was getting louder. Shane felt Cindy's walls clamping down on his thick member, and he gave one last thrust. He pulled out quickly and saw Cindy squirt all over the ground.

Shane mixed Cindy's squirt with his sperm, his semen jetting out to the floor. "Oh my god, we made a mess," Cindy gasped seeing hers and Shane's art creation on the floor.

"'Cause you're a hot, messy, wet girl," Shane growled in Cindy's ear and sucked hard on her neck. Cindy moaned and kept her hand on Shane's muscled back, feeling his chiseled body with her hands.


	11. Chapter 11

Jimmy told the search party that there was a nearby abandoned housing development, and the group agreed to search that place after gun practice. Rick was in charge of leading the gun practice, and Shane went away with Andrea, Cindy, and Kobe. He tied a log to a rope and swung it, making them move on to moving target practice.

Kobe easily got the hang of it, and so did Cindy from gun-range practice before the apocalypse. Andrea was having more trouble, and she was obviously very frustrated that she wasn't the only one who could get it. Shane started antagonizing her by bringing up Amy, and Cindy knew that went too far. Andrea stormed away and Cindy glared at Shane. "You went too far with that."

"She won't learn if you take her hand and lead her. She needs to learn on her own."

"But bringing up her sister like that? Telling her that Amy died because she didn't know how to protect herself? That's bullshit." Shane was taken aback at how personally Cindy was taking this. "Her sister didn't know the camp was gonna be raided that night. It was a tragic accident, nothing more and nothing less. Death of loved ones are off limits." Cindy didn't wait for Shane's reply.

Cindy walked off to where Andrea was sitting by herself. "I'm sorry about that," Cindy apologized.

"Why are you sorry?" Andrea asked without looking at Cindy.

"I just...I understand your anger. If he said that to me, I'd kick him in the balls and rip his dick out." Andrea chuckled and Cindy sat next to Andrea. "And I'm sorry about yelling at you about Daryl. You were just tryna protect us."

"I'm sorry, too, about what I said that day. You're a good leader."

"Only if I were a man and much bigger, huh?"

"Women are good leaders. You don't need to be big to gain respect."

"Then what makes a good leader?"

"I don't really know. I'm...I'm not much of a leader myself," Andrea admitted. Cindy heard Mina's laughter, and she saw her playing around with Ghost. "Where did you find that wolf, by the way?"

"In the forest. I think it really likes me."

"It's huge."

"I know. I've never seen anything like it before. Kinda looks like it belongs in a snowy place rather than here." Shane apologized to Andrea, and while he was doing it he glanced at Cindy as if trying to show her his actions. He told Andrea that they could go to the abandoned homes that Jimmy told them about earlier in the day. Andrea agreed and she headed to the car first.

"Wanna join?" he asked Cindy.

"Not today. Be safe." Cindy glanced and saw Kobe walking towards the two, and she pushed Shane lightly. He walked away and Cindy smiled at Kobe. "Hey."

"Hey." Kobe plopped onto the grass and lied down looking up at the blue sky. "Damn, what I'd do to play some ball around here."

"I know. But it's just grass everywhere. It wouldn't work."

"Can't wait till we get back home." Cindy was quiet. "You know I'm on your side."

"I know," Cindy smiled. Kobe always knew what to say to make her smile. "Do you think I'm a good leader?" Kobe looked at Cindy. "I don't command respect, do I?"

"Not all the time," Kobe confessed.

"And Rick does?" Kobe didn't answer. "How is Rick different from me? Is it because he's a guy?"

"You know that's not it."

"Then what's the difference between me and him?"

"Confidence."

"Confidence?" Cindy was confused. She knew she had plenty of confidence.

"Yeah. I know what you're thinking. You have a lotta confidence, Cindy, but you gotta work on hiding your emotions more. When you're worried, it's written all over your face."

"Look at Rick! His eyebrows are always furrowed. He always looks worried."

"Yeah, but that's his look. You, your face isn't meant to be like that. You don't have any wrinkles, and you have youth in your face."

"So you're saying that I don't look like a leader, and that's why I don't command respect?"

"Yeah," Kobe answered. "It's okay. You'll learn. I know you will."

"Then what about Jenny? Did she have wrinkles and look old?" Kobe laughed.

"Jenny had that furrowed look whenever she needed to, remember?" Cindy nodded and she excused herself. She climbed onto the roof of Dale's RV and looked out at the forest.

"Did you already forget how I looked, little sister?" Cindy smiled and shook her head, then looking at her sister sitting right next to her.

"Of course not, Jenny. I just don't get why you need to look the part to be a leader. I thought it was just the way you act."

"Your entire demeanor is what matters because that's what people look at. You as a whole. If you just act the part and don't look it, then that doesn't count."

"So what? I gotta learn how to furrow my eyebrows more?" Jenny laughed and Cindy did too. "If you were here, you could teach me."

"I am here."

"Touche," Cindy smiled and looked at her hands. "So...is God sending you down as some kinda hologram to me whenever I have time to think on my own?" There was no reply and Cindy looked to see Jenny was gone. Cindy watched Mina playing around with Ghost still, and Carl was there with her taking care of her.

"Cindy?" Rick called out to her from ground level. Cindy peered down and climbed down the RV towards Rick. "Cindy, can we speak?" She nodded and the two walked away towards a more private place. "It's Lori...she's pregnant."

"Oh my god, congratulations," Cindy smiled and hugged Rick. He was taken aback by her reaction and her hug. "But...you don't look too good."

"We can't leave the farm if Lori is pregnant."

"Of course not," Cindy nodded agreeing with Rick. "Another 9 months to recuperate. That would be enough if Hershel still wants us off. But hey, in 9 months he might end up loving us." Rick cracked a smile at the corner of his lip. "I hope it's a girl. Mina would be better off having a sister." Cindy glanced at Rick and laughed at his expression. "And it's better to have girls. We're the only ones who can make babies." Rick cracked another smile. "It's good seeing you smile once in a while, Rick."

"You seem to be the only one who can make me." Cindy smiled and saw Lori carrying a bucket of water. She ran to Lori's side and took the buckets from Lori.

"You know?" Lori asked Cindy.

"Yeah," Cindy nodded. "Congratulations, Lori." She nodded and Cindy could see Lori uncomfortable. "What's wrong?" Lori shook her head. "Are you scared to bring the baby into this world?"

"...yeah."

"Don't be. You have all of us to take care of you and the baby the next 9 months. We're family, Lori."

"How am I going to travel? I'll...I'll be a burden on everyone. You'll have to slow down for me, give up food for me."

"No, Hershel won't throw us out if he knows your pregnant."

"How do you know?"

"Because he's a nice man. He saved Carl's life, and he's let us live here this long so far to look for Sophia."

"I hope it's a girl," Lori confessed. "Carl would be better off having a sister." Cindy smiled and agreed. While helping Lori finish the chores, Cindy noticed Shane and Andrea coming back from the abandoned homes. When they exited the car, she saw a huge grin on Andrea's face. But it wasn't the kind of grin where she finally got the hang of shooting moving targets. Cindy saw a smirk on Shane's face, and he shook his head to himself. Shane saw Lori and Cindy together, and he didn't approach them. "Looks like something happened."

"What?" Cindy asked looking back at Lori.

"Just look at Andrea," Lori said smiling. Cindy looked back at Andrea and saw her acting a bit differently, a bit happier. Cindy needed to get her mind off it, and she spent the rest of the time helping Lori out. She had a fun time with Lori, not having had girl time in a long time. They talked and laughed about random things, and Cindy was glad that she could talk comfortably to someone in the group besides Kobe.

Later, Cindy decided she needed to find out if anything happened between Andrea and Shane. She approached Andrea watching over the campsite on top of the roof of Dale's RV. "Hey, Cindy," Andrea greeted.

"Hey. So, did you find anything at the abandoned houses?"

"No, nothing."

"Oh, I thought you might've because you and Shane looked kinda happy when you came back."

"Well...promise to keep a secret?" Andrea asked biting her lip. Cindy nodded, her heart racing. She knew what was going to be said. She wasn't a fool. "Shane and I had sex."

"Oh, really?" Cindy asked with fake surprise. She could always hide pain well. "Wow, no wonder why you two looked so happy."

"It was so good. I honestly needed that. It's been too long since I've had sex with a guy."

"Yeah, probably not since zombies popped out of the ground like daisies, huh?" Andrea laughed and Cindy excused herself. She walked away and sat down under the shade of a tree. She was so lost in her thought that she didn't see Shane sitting by her side. He handed her a bowl of food, but she still didn't notice him.

"Baby girl?" Shane asked. He nudged Cindy and she jumped, snapping awake. "What were you thinking of?"

"You had sex with her," Cindy bluntly stated. Shane was quiet and he seemed taken aback. He looked away and Cindy sat there. "I sat here first. You leave."

"Cindy-"

"Go!" Shane sighed and walked away, leaving the bowl of food next to Cindy. Cindy felt a tear forming in her eye, but Mina called her name out. Cindy quickly smiled and hugged her baby sister. "Hello, my love. Did you have fun playing with Ghost and Carl?"

"Ghost loves me so much! Watch!" Mina ran to the left, and Ghost followed. She ran to the right and Ghost followed again. Mina giggled and Cindy smiled. Shane watched the two sisters and wolf from afar, eating his bowl of food.

"I should beat the living shit out of you." Shane turned and saw Kobe there. Shane looked back at Cindy and Mina, ignoring Kobe's comment. "I wasn't born yesterday. I know you and Cindy have something going on. And I know you and Andrea had sex."

"So what?"

"So what?" Kobe asked in disbelief. "You stay away from Cindy, or I'll kick your ass. She's dealing with shit she shouldn't be, and you're making it worse on her."

"She loves me."

"Love? Hah! Don't kid yourself."

"Why don't you leave us alone and get yourself a girl to release into, hm?" Shane walked away and Kobe couldn't believe what this guy just said to him. His anger got the best of him, and he spun Shane around and punched him in the face. Cindy saw the fight, and the two men were throwing punches.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" Cindy shouted running to Shane and Kobe fighting. Rick and the group saw them fighting, and Rick and Daryl pulled the two men apart.

"Get off me!" Kobe shouted and pushed Daryl aside. He glared at Shane, then looked at Cindy. Kobe walked away and Cindy looked at Shane. He was looking right at her, and she went to Kobe's side. Shane stood there in disbelief, watching Cindy tend to Kobe.

"Kobe, what happened?" Cindy asked. Kobe didn't know what to say. He didn't want to tell Cindy that Shane had sex with Andrea knowing how she felt about Shane. "This isn't about Andrea, is it?"

"You know?"

"I wasn't born yesterday." Kobe was quiet. Cindy sat Kobe down and looked at the wounds on his face. She cleaned his wounds silently.

"He's a no good piece of shit trash," Kobe growled. Cindy just smiled and shook her head. "What? You're not gonna defend that bastard, are you?"

"I'm not saying anything. That fight was between you two. I have my own issues with Shane."

"I'm not gonna let him hurt you like that. Not as long as I'm still here. I didn't stand for shit like that before zombies popped outta the ground, and I ain't gonna stand for that shit now." Cindy smiled and started to laugh. "What?"

"I just remembered that day when you and Jenny confronted Russell. You both scared the shit outta him."

"Yeah, and I beat the shit outta him." Cindy smiled and shook her head.

"I'm so glad you're with me, Kobe." He looked at her and couldn't help but smile. "I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here. Thanks for everything, Kobe. Really. I don't tell you that enough, and I'm sorry. But thank you for looking out for me."

"Somebody's gotta."

"And you know I'll always look out for you, too. I'd never go anywhere else without you."

"I know you won't, cus now you're gonna be in my sight at all times."

"Ugh, you're doing it again," Cindy groaned. "You said the same thing last time after Russell cheated on me. You can't protect me from bad guys."

"Yes I can. I'll just scare 'em off."

"If you haven't noticed, you're not the scariest person on the planet. There are other things out there that'll scare people more than just your glare." Kobe smirked.

"Ghost! Where are you going?" Mina shouted watching Ghost running into the forest. Cindy and Kobe watched the white wolf disappear behind the trees, and Mina started crying. Cindy smiled and went to Mina. She held Mina and walked back to where Kobe was.

"Oh, baby girl, why you cryin'?" Kobe asked holding Mina in his arms.

"Ghost ran away," Mina cried.

"It's a wolf, Mina," Cindy replied. "Wolves belong in the wild, in the forest. It's not meant to live with humans."

"But I miss him!"

"I know you do, sweetheart, but Ghost isn't our pet. It's still a wild animal." Mina sniffled and she snuggled in Kobe's embrace. Cindy smiled and leaned her head on Kobe's shoulder. For the first time since all of this zombie shit had happened, Kobe felt ease. The people he loved were with him, and he felt as if nothing could break this moment.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning, everyone sat around the camp eating breakfast. Cindy had no interest in talking with Shane, no matter how hard he tried. Cindy gave the rest of her food to Mina and Lori, losing her appetite just being around Shane. „Guys, there's something you need to know," Glenn spoke quietly. He looked troubled and conflicted as if whether he should tell the group or not.

„What is it?" Rick asked glancing over at Glenn.

„The barn...it's full of walkers." No one answered. They had to think about what Glenn said twice. Glenn said it again, and it slowly sunk into everyone that the barn must have been full of walkers.

„How do you know?" Cindy asked.

„I...I saw it. I climbed up the barn one night and saw them. There must've been about 2, 3 dozen walkers." Everyone stood up and ran to the barn in panic. It just looked like a normal barn with nothing live inside it. Cindy kept Mina back with Carl, Lori, and Carol.

As the group moved closer to the barn, they could hear the growls and snarls from inside of the accumulating walkers. Cindy's heart dropped and she motioned for Mina and Carl to get back from the barn. Shane suddenly became enraged, grabbing his gun and shouting at the old crazy man. „We need to leave, Rick," Shane suggested but it sounded nearly like an order. Rick told the group he'd talk to Hershel about the barn, and Shane was obviously frustrated of just talking instead of taking action. Cindy took a step back closer to Kobe seeing an unfamiliar look on Shane's face, a twitch in his eye that scared Cindy in the pit of her stomach. Because of this revelation of the walkers in the barn, everyone agreed to keep watch of the barn with shifts until they decided how to deal with the situation.

Cindy saw Rick sitting under the shade by himself to think, and she sat herself right next to him. „What will you say to him?" she asked, referring about him talking to Hershel.

„The same I always do. We need to stay at the farm."

„And what about the walkers in the barn?"

„I'll mention that too." Cindy didn't reply. „What do you think?"

„I think it's a good idea, but you need to be careful about what you say about those walkers. He has them in there for a reason."

„What reason would anyone have for doing that?" Rick asked still in disbelief.

„I don't know. Maybe he knows them. Maybe some are his family members in there, or his friends. And he doesn't have the heart to kill them. He hasn't experienced what we have. He's been sheltered here the entire time. He hasn't seen what we've seen." Rick was quiet. „I think today would be a good day to tell Hershel about Lori's pregnancy." Rick looked at Cindy, listening to her plan. „Once you mention about the walkers in the barn, Hershel will go on the defense. He might even go so far as to kicking us out this day. You need to use Lori's pregnancy to get to him. I know that sounds shitty, but she's our key to staying here. You need to tell Hershel that he can't kick us out, and talk about Lori's pregnancy."

„Alright," Rick sighed quietly, knowing what he needed to do for the sake of the group.

„And if you can, Rick, talk to Shane." Rick looked back at Cindy. „The way he was today...it scared me." Cindy wasn't constrained of her concerns. She voiced her concerns the second most to Rick, not letting anything back because the two leaders knew the only way to functionally keep the group together was to work together.

„What do you mean?"

„The way he was angry. I...I've seen that look before. My sister, she's a lawyer. I've seen her in court, and the criminals and murderers she put away...Shane had the same look in their eyes. I know he's your best friend, but he's hyping things up when things need to stay calm." Rick nodded his head, understanding.

Cindy watched Rick heading into Hershel's house, and she went back to see Carl and Mina playing together being watched by Lori and Carol. Cindy went into the RV and noticed all the guns were missing, and so were Dale and Shane. She stepped outside and asked T-Dog where Dale was. T-Dog didn't know, no one knew. „Hey baby girl," Kobe greeted Cindy.

„Hey. Do you know where Dale is? I think he took all the guns."

„No. Why do you need a gun?"

„No reason," Cindy shrugged. „Did you see that look in Shane's eyes today when we were at the barn?"

„Yeah. I knew you saw it, too. Don't worry. Rick can calm him down."

„To a certain point, yeah. But...Shane's losing it. I've never seen that look before, not even at the CDC. It just...it frightened me."

„He won't hurt anyone, especially not you."

„Ghost!" Mina squealed seeing the large white-furred wolf walking to Mina and Carl with another wolf companion, the same abnormally large size as Wolf but with grey fur. Cindy quickly ran to Mina before she could've ran to Ghost and the other wolf. She picked up Mina in her arms and looked at the grey wolf. Both wolves looked at Cindy and Mina, and Ghost went forward and licked Cindy's free hand.

Cindy petted Ghost and the other wolf sat and looked at Cindy. „Brought a friend, huh, Ghost?" Ghost went back to the grey wolf and sat next to him, both wolves looking at the two sisters. Cindy put Mina down and the baby went to pet the two wolves. They were both friendly, and Cindy felt relieved.

Cindy looked up to the forest and saw Shane walking with the bag of guns from the RV. Her heart skipped a beat, wondering why he had the bag of guns and was walking out from the forest. She eyed him but saw that he was blinded by his anger. Shane gathered up the group, but Cindy kept Mina and Carl away with Lori as well.

They could all hear Shane shouting, trying to hype up the group to start taking actions. It sounded convincing, but Cindy knew Shane was going about this in the wrong way especially when he was making things chaotic when what was needed was order. She noticed Dale walking out of the forest and he had a look of pain and sadness in his face. Dale just walked past the group listening to Shane and went towards the RV. Cindy ran to Dale's side but he continued walking. „Dale, what happened?"

„Shane is losing his mind, that's what's happening."

„What happened in the forest? I saw Shane walking out with the guns. What did he do to you?"

„He's dangerous, Cindy. He's becoming a really dangerous man, and I honestly think the group would be better off without him."

„W-why?" Cindy was starting to get nervous, not wanting to believe what Dale was saying but somehow believed it.

„Shane killed Otis. And I saw him pointing his gun right at Rick from behind, as if he was going to shoot Rick in the back." Cindy didn't know what to say. „I know what I saw. That's what Shane did. Cindy, you need to be careful of him. Don't let Mina be near him." Cindy heard Shane shouting Rick's name, and she looked back to see Hershel, Jimmy, and Rick walking out of the forest with walkers tied up by the neck. „What the hell is he doing?!" Cindy shouted to herself, referring to Rick. She saw the entire group running towards the 3 men and walker, with Shane in the lead.

„You need to stop him, Cindy," Dale said. Shane started yelling at Hershel, demeaning his views about the walkers being safe. He was mocking Hershel, and Shane drew his gun out pointing it right at the walker Jimmy was holding. Shane shouted that if this walker was a living thing, it wouldn't be able to survive multiple shots to the chest and keep charging.

Shane did as so and shot the walker 3 times in the chest. It snarled and kept charging towards Shane, and Hershel watched in shock as Shane put a bullet through the walker's head. „You need to stop him now, Cindy! He'll hurt someone," Dale now pleaded. Cindy nodded and ran as quickly as she could to the barn. But it wasn't in time in order to stop Shane from freeing all the walkers from the barn.

The walkers began to file out one at a time, and there was no choice but to shoot them all. Rick even had to join because there were so many walkers filing out. The shooting lasted for 5 minutes, and Cindy watched in horror at the pile of walker bodies in front of the barn. She sighed, and looked back at Hershel. The man was on his knees, crying at the sight of his beloved friends and family dead at the hands of the group. Cindy stood by Rick on his other side, and she put a hand on his arm.

When they thought it was all over, a final walker stepped out quietly and slowly into the bright sunlight. Everyone's hearts dropped and they looked upon the horrendous sight of Sophia snarling, a walker. Everyone took a step back and put their guns to their side, watching the little walker girl limping towards them.

Carol screamed and tried to run to Sophia, but Daryl held her back. Carol screamed for her daughter, and no one dared to shoot the little girl. Cindy glanced at Shane, seeing that his once furious rage had dissipated into shock. Cindy tapped Andrea's arm and took her gun. Cindy sighed and looked at the little girl inching closer. Cindy took a step forward, looking right at Sophia. For so long the group suffered everyday trying to look for this little girl, and she was right here all along. All the danger they endured, all the suffering Rick and Cindy had to persevere through.

It was in this moment that the burden could finally be lifted off of their shoulders, but that would mean a new burden would be to come: the burden of being the one to kill off the walker. Cindy heard Carol screaming in the back, pleading for Cindy to spare Sophia's life. Cindy bit her tongue, knowing what needed to be done. Rick stepped forward, standing next to Cindy. The two looked at one another, and they knew exactly what they needed to do. The two looked back at Sophia. They raised their guns together, breathing heavily as they heard Carol screaming her heart out for her daughter.

Cindy whispered a prayer loud enough for Rick to hear, and when she said her final prayer words they pulled the trigger together. Carol screamed when her daughter fell dead, and Cindy dropped the gun to the floor. She turned around and couldn't look at anyone. She walked by the group and walked past Mina, Carl, and Lori. Flashes of the day when Cindy had to kill Jenny flooded her mind. The image of Jenny being a walker, a live body but dead soul and mind.

Cindy sat behind the RV and wept by herself. She didn't even notice Rick sitting next to her. When Cindy felt Rick's hand on her shoulder, she quickly wrapped her arms around Rick and cried in his shoulder. Rick held Cindy tighter, holding her now with both arms.

Rick held Cindy as she slowly calmed down. As Cindy sniffled her last tears, she looked up at Rick and said, „Don't tell anyone about this." She wiped her tears and said, „I wasn't crying, okay?" Rick cracked a smile and nodded.

„You shouldn't have to feel embarrassed about crying."

„I'm not embarrassed. Leaders don't cry in front of the group."

„So leaders can cry with each other?" Rick asked a little lightheartedly. Cindy smiled and nodded her head as she wiped her very last tear away. Rick smiled, feeling his heart lighten at the sight of the beautiful girl gathering up her strength to go back out to the group.


End file.
